Secure Care UK Limited

Updated 21 April 2023

Secure Care UK is operated by Secure Care UK Limited. This service offers secure transport for patients with mental health conditions including patients detained under the Mental Health Act. They collect patients from their own homes, hospitals, and custodial settings. They transport patients to hospitals or other facilities to receive treatment for their mental health conditions. In the past 12 months, the service had undertaken 2,791 patient journeys.

The location was registered to provide the following regulated activities

• Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely.
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The service had a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. They have legal responsibilities for meeting the requirements set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

This location registered with the Care Quality Commission in June 2021 and this was the first inspection. We carried out a comprehensive inspection on 24 January 2023 after we gave the service 24 hours’ notice.

Updated 21 April 2023

This was the first time we inspected the service. We rated it as requires improvement because:

• Management systems at this location did not alert leaders when there were risks to patient safety, such as infection prevention control risks, and when staff had not been given required training,
• We found the patient transport vehicles had not had a deep clean since May 2022.
• Not all staff had completed all elements of their induction, including modules on first aid and basic life support.
• Staff were not aware of learning from incidents, complaint, or feedback from governance meetings and national communications.
• New identification badges issued to new staff were not fit for purpose.

However:

• Operational staff were clearly passionate about providing high quality care to the people they transported.
• Staff had access to all the information they needed to care for their patients.
• Staff used restraint techniques and the vehicle secure cells only when required.
• Staff did not work in isolation and the new members of staff we spoke with were extremely positive about the support they were given by their colleagues.

Updated 21 April 2023

This was the first time we inspected the service. We rated it as requires improvement because:

• Staff and leaders could not easily access policies on their electronic tablets provided. Leaders could not provide assurance that staff could access the policies when required.
• Infection prevention controls were not effective. The vehicles used to transport patients had not been deep cleaned since May 2022. The management team were unaware of this as systems did not flag the vehicles had not been deep cleaned. Not all staff were aware of the seat coverings to be used when transporting patients.
• Leaders did not ensure learning from complaints and incidents was shared with staff. Although these were discussed at governance meetings, details were not cascaded to operational staff. Staff did not always receive feedback when they raised concerns about the service.
• Some staff had not completed elements of their induction, including first aid and resuscitation. The management team were unaware of this as systems did not flag staff who had been unable to complete their induction.

However:

• Staff provided good care and treatment, and assessed patients’ food and drink requirements. The service met agreed response times.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients.
• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well.