Objectives of the service
Objectives:
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Improve patient transport efficiency by optimising vehicle routing and scheduling
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Reduce NHS operational costs through shared vehicle fleet utilisation
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Reduce transport related carbon emissions associated with patient journeys
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Demonstrate how GNSS-enabled systems can support real time coordination of healthcare transport services
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Enhance operational flexibility by enabling transport services to dynamically respond to real time events such as patient readiness, delays, or short notice cancellations
Users and their needs
Project Eclipse focuses on improving transport services used by healthcare providers, patients, and operational staff.
The key user groups include:
NHS transport managers and operational teams
These users require tools to coordinate transport services efficiently, monitor vehicle utilisation, and ensure reliable patient journeys.
Drivers providing patient transport services
Drivers require clear routing instructions, real time updates, and tools to report operational issues such as delays or patient no-shows.
Clinical teams responsible for patient discharge or treatment scheduling
Clinical staff need simple interfaces to update patient readiness so that transport services can respond quickly when patients are ready to travel.
Patients requiring regular hospital transport services
Patients require reliable transport to and from healthcare appointments with minimal waiting time.
The platform is designed to integrate these different operational perspectives into a single coordinated system.
Service/ system concept
The Eclipse service is powered by the Flock Mobility platform, a digital coordination system designed to optimise shared vehicle operations in complex environments such as healthcare transport.
The system integrates multiple operational data sources including:
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Vehicle locations obtained via GNSS
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Scheduled treatment or appointment times
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Real-time operational inputs from drivers
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Patient readiness updates from clinical staff
These inputs are processed by an optimisation engine which evaluates the most efficient way to allocate vehicles to transport requests.
During the project, real-time route re-optimisation capabilities were successfully developed and deployed, enabling the system to automatically adapt transport plans when operational events occur. Examples include:
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Patients becoming ready earlier or later than expected
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Drivers reporting delays or unexpected issues
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Patients cancelling or becoming unavailable for pickup
When such events occur, the platform recalculates routes and vehicle assignments to maintain service reliability, improve vehicle utilisation, and minimise patient waiting times.
Additional interfaces developed during the project allow:
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Drivers to trigger re-scheduling requests
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Clinical staff to update patient readiness through a simple interface
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NHS transport teams to monitor operational performance through an enhanced dashboard
Space Added Value
Satellite navigation technologies play a critical role in the Flock service.
GNSS data enables the system to obtain precise, real-time location information for vehicles operating within the transport network. This allows the platform to:
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Track vehicle positions in real time
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Calculate accurate estimated arrival times for patient pickups
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Support dynamic route re-scheduling based on live vehicle locations
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Improve the accuracy of scheduling decisions across multiple vehicles
The integration of GNSS data ensures that optimisation decisions are based on real-world conditions rather than static schedules. This capability is particularly important in healthcare environments where treatment durations and patient readiness can change frequently.
By combining GNSS positioning with advanced routing algorithms, the system enables a more flexible and efficient transport service that improves both operational performance and patient experience.
Current Status
Project Eclipse has successfully demonstrated the use of GNSS-enabled transport coordination within a live NHS operational environment.
The Flock Mobility platform has been deployed at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, supporting renal dialysis patient transport, staff mobility services, and additional operational transport activities. The project demonstrated significant reductions in transport costs and carbon emissions while improving vehicle utilisation through shared electric vehicle operations.
The final CCN1 phase of the project successfully delivered and validated new real-time route re-optimisation capabilities, allowing transport plans to adapt dynamically to operational events such as patient delays, treatment timing changes, and driver-reported issues. The project also introduced enhanced interfaces for drivers and NHS operational teams together with improved performance monitoring tools.
The completed demonstration has increased the commercial readiness of the platform and provides a scalable solution for NHS organisations seeking to improve patient transport efficiency, reduce operational costs, and support Net Zero objectives. The service is now available for deployment with NHS Trusts and other organisations requiring intelligent shared transport coordination.
Prime Contractor(s)
