Labour has called for an inquiry after the collapse of a private ambulance firm that has contracts with the NHS and other private health organisations.

Private Ambulance Service, which the trade union Unison described as running an “abysmal” operation, was issued a winding-up notice by the Inland Revenue on Friday. The firm is expected to stop trading on 9 October.

The company has been employed in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire as non-urgent patient transport service. It worked for hospitals including Watford General and Bedford hospital.



Labour MP Justin Madders, the shadow health minister, said: “It is still staggering that under the Tories so many parts of the NHS are being packaged up and sold off to companies who are unable to run the services properly.

“Several hundreds of staff and thousands of patients are now faced with huge uncertainty because of the failings of another private ambulance firm, and it’s not the first time this has happened.”

Madders called for an inquiry into what went wrong, saying the government should place “an immediate halt” on issuing other patient transport contracts until “lessons have been learned”.

Unison representatives said the service should never have been taken outside of the NHS. Tim Roberts, regional manager for Unison Eastern, said patient transport in the area had been contracted to private providers for the last few years. However, the previous company withdrew early, leaving the Private Ambulance Service to step in.



“Our concern at Unison is that this key service should be provided by the NHS ... this contract in the last few months has been a disaster. We have heard horror stories of patients soiling themselves as they have been left waiting for an ambulance for so long. We have also heard about non-roadworthy and dirty ambulances. From a safeguarding and safety point of view, Personal Ambulance Services were abysmal,” he said.



Roberts said that when news of the service going into administration came through, they were in the process of launching a legal case against the company due to complaints from staff about unpaid wages.

In July the Herts Advertiser reported that the Herts Valleys clinical commissioning group had issued an apology after ongoing problems with the performance of Private Ambulance Service, which left vulnerable patients stuck in hospitals or their homes for hours while waiting to be picked up.

Employees at the Private Ambulance Service were sent an email on Saturday from East England ambulance service, Unison and Herts Valley, Bedfordshire, Luton, Herts North and East clinical commissioning groups.



It read: “[We] have been working together to agree how the service can be continued over the coming days and weeks ... Firstly, the most important thing is that we need you more than ever – we have patients across the area who rely on the services you provide and we therefore very much want you to continue coming to work and delivering those services, for which of course you will be paid for.”

It continued: “We are looking how we can support staff through this transition. Part of these discussions will also be to look at staff terms and conditions and explore if we can bring them into line with the NHS, something which we hope will be a positive move for you.”

The Private Ambulance Service, which operates 126 vehicles with 300 staff, had not responded to the Guardian with a response at the time of going to press.