Almost half of Bolton patients being taken to hospital appointments by transport company Arriva are not getitng there on time according to new figures.

And a quarter of people questioned by patients group Healthwatch Bolton reported being more than an hour late.

The survey found that Arriva — which handles non-emergency trips to hospital for patients — was not recognising the practical difficulties of helping “some very sick people” to board the ambulance, or take into account traffic.

Dr Wirin Bhatiani, chairman of the Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “There have been quite a lot of comments about Arriva, and a lot of people have expressed dissatisfaction with it.

“This issue is now on our agenda. We will be looking at the contract and the issues that have been raised and examine it a lot more closely, and reach more recommendations. It is on our radar.”

Arriva has been responsible for transporting Bolton residents to and from hospitals around Greater Manchester since April 2013.

Jack Firth of Healthwatch Bolton said the group would be meeting with Arriva to see what improvements the company has made in recent months.

He said: “The contract with Arriva says a target allows for people to be dropped off 15 minutes after an appointment time and have a 90 minute wait after — that to us doesn’t sound like it’s a good contract and something needs to be done.”

Harper Green councillor Mike Francis said: “How can a company of that size get their logistics so horrendously wrong? I would like that question to be asked.

“There are larger logistics companies who deliver packages who do better, and they are a lot less important than human beings.”

Dennis Hajdukiewicz, head of Greater Manchester at Arriva Transport Solutions, said the firm has already made changes to the service since the survey was carried out in January.

He said: “Through our service improvement plans we have significantly improved the response times for patients attending hospital appointments and returning home and we are now meeting the required standards across Greater Manchester.

“Other issues patients raised were around accessing the service, making an enquiry and needing a better under-standing of what the service does.

“We are working with our NHS colleagues to produce information through a variety of channels to address this.”

Anyone with queries about a non-emergency patient journeys can email patientexperience@arriva.

co.uk.