Services: Frequently Asked Questions

Questions and answers to some common queries about our service.

If you have additional questions not listed below, our Help Desk is available to assist at 1.800.768.0044.

Regular hours are from 6:00am to midnight every day. Pre-booked service is available during non-operational times at a 30% premium that also applies on Sundays and statutory holidays, between 6:00am and midnight.

We operate throughout British Columbia’s Lower Mainland from Pemberton to Hope, but regularly transport patients to Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast, and the Interior. We can transfer a patient anywhere within a one day drive from Vancouver, including into Washington State, USA.

The company was established in BC in 2003.

We have been involved with Patient Transfer Services [PTS] for over 25 years and were instrumental in introducing high quality PTS in the National Health Service in the UK.

We currently have more than 100 specially equipped vehicles, including ambulances and wheelchair accessible mini-vans and mini-buses, and approximately 185 staff members that carry out over 100,000 transfers per year in the Lower Mainland.

Yes, we have a very comprehensive two week training program for all Hospital Transfers drivers and care attendants. Each driver is also qualified in First Aid & CPR, ranging in levels from Emergency First Aid to Advanced Care Paramedic, and many of our crews have previous experience as nurses and residential care aides.

Regular refresher training ensures crews are kept up to date on new processes, procedures, and technology.

Our training and safety managers have participated in the training and quality control programs of the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute.

Yes, we are a bed-to-bed service. We will pick up a patient from the ward, and if the patient is going to a clinic on the 10th floor of a hospital, we will escort the patient to the 10th floor and pick up from there for the return trip.

Yes, an escort or single family member can accompany a patient without any additional charge.

Yes. Typically we advise that if the treatment is going to take longer than 30 minutes, we will return when the appointment is finished. If waiting for a period of more than 15 minutes for a wheelchair patient, or 30 minutes for a stretcher patient, additional wait time charges will be applied.

None! Ideally we like to have all patient transfer bookings made the day before an appointment, as this helps make sure an appropriately equipped vehicle will be available and on time. We can accommodate same-day bookings, however pre-booked appointments will always take priority. Appointments can be made one day—or even two months—in advance.

Bookings should be made as soon as it is known the transfer will be required or an appointment is made. Pre-booked appointments are always given priority over same-day requests.

If an appointment is booked online, an email confirmation to retain in the patient’s file will be sent to the email address provided.

Yes, you can change any part of the booking. Most people will book an estimated return time from an appointment. When we take the patient into an appointment, the driver will ask for an approximate return time and leave contact details with the reception, should your appointment continue past the booking time or if you are ready earlier, reception will call us directly.

No, not if it is more that 45 minutes before the scheduled pick-up time. If less than 45 minutes, we will only charge the basic minimum local rate.

The same criteria applies to journeys with Hospital Transfers as it does with a transfer via the BC Ambulance service for BC residents—but at lower cost. When booked by a Health Authority medical facility, if that journey is not between one acute hospital and another, a BC Ambulance transfer is subject to a subsidized Ministry of Health mandated user flat fee of $80, irrespective of the time or distance. Non-MSP Beneficiaries are charged $848 !!

Any person on Income Assistance or MSP Premium Assistance [ Supplementary Benefits ] is automatically exempt.

The same requirement applies to Hospital Transfers—except a lower fee of $50 would be applied, in which case an invoice would be sent approximately 3 to 4 weeks after the journey.

Transfers from the community are not eligible for the subsidized Ministry of Health mandated user fee of $50, and would be charged at the current regular rate.

Frequently Asked Questions
“We are as proud of what we don’t do—as we are of what we do.”