Elderly and infirm patients were left stranded because of the “unacceptable” failure of a new hospital transport service, health bosses admitted this week.

In the Canterbury district alone, the toll of those affected reached dozens.

Some were not even collected from their homes at all, forcing them to miss vital appointments, while others arrived hours late and had long waits for their return journeys.

The problems started when the service was taken over by an outside contractor on July 1.

Now East Kent Hospitals Trust chief executive Stuart Bain has apologised to patients for the delays, which he blamed on teething problems with the new system.

He said: “Patients have experienced unacceptable delays in their transport to and from hospital for appointments and treatment. The situation is putting considerable strain on many departments.”

There has also been an apology from the new provider NSL Care Services, which has taken on the contract across hospitals in Kent and Medway.

Its website boasts: “We provide patients with safe, comfortable and efficient transfers.

"Our staff are dedicated to making sure they arrive at specified destinations safely, and providing a caring, timely, reliable and cost-effective transport service to the public and private sectors.’

The NSL contact centre, which coordinates the booking of patient transport, has been struggling to handle the number of calls coming in.

NSL managing director Alastair Cooper said the company is “deeply sorry” for letting patients down in an “unacceptable" first week, but pledged the service is improving.

He said: “Unforeseen challenges during the transition phase of this large contract resulted in us providing an unsatisfactory service to some of our patients in Kent.

“We are keenly aware that many patients have a vital dependence on our transport to get them to their essential medical appointments.#

“We are deeply sorry to those patients we let down this week by failing to pick them up on time, or in a few cases, at all."

He said it became clear on the first day that there were problem.

Staff started to work with commissioners and the trusts in Kent and Medway to improve the service for patients.

“We are deeply sorry to those patients we let down this week by failing to pick them up on time, or in a few cases, at all" - NSL managing director Alastair Cooper

NSL took on extra resources, including vehicles, crew and call centre staff.

Mr Cooper added: “We also altered rosters to ensure maximum levels of call takers at peak times and laid extra cables to boost call capacity. By Monday, there were 40% more call handlers to receive bookings.

“Online booking of transport for NHS staff was made available and more users were given access to the system to increase efficiency."

Hospital trusts were also given their own dedicated transport booking number.

“All of this has led to a considerable improvement. We are confident that this unacceptable first week shall soon be behind us, and that our patients in Kent will experience the same high standards that we deliver elsewhere.”