31 March 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
APMS Ambulance Service Limited provides patient transport services (PTS). The service opened in 1997 and registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December 2015. It is an independent ambulance service in Peterborough. The service primarily serves the communities of the Peterborough and Cambridgeshire region but also offers PTS services out of county on request.
Following our previous inspection of this service on the 18 and 23 November 2020, we told the provider it must take action to bring services in line with legal requirements. This action related to the patient transport service. The provider submitted an action plan outlining the steps they were taking to improve.
On 19 March 2021 CQC received information of concern in relation to the recruitment of individuals employed with APMS Ambulance Service Limited. Due to the significance of the concerns on 24 March 2021 we served an urgent notice of suspension of registration as a service provider, in respect of all regulated activities, under Section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
We carried out an urgent focused inspection on 31 March 2021, which corroborated concerns in relation to the providers recruitment practices and staff records. Due to the lack of assurance that the provider could address the concerns prior to the end of the suspension period on the 9 April 2021, we extended the urgent suspension until the 14 May 2021.
On the 23 April 2021, the registered manager voluntarily cancelled their registration as the registered manager of the service. On the 27 April 2021, the provider told us that no progress had been made in relation to responding to the concerns identified during our inspection and the provider was looking to sell APMS Ambulance Service Limited.
On the 5 May 2021, the provider told us they had made no progress towards addressing the concerns we identified during inspection. There was no post inspection action plan and a new registered manager had not been appointed for the service. The provider told us that they had been in liaison with several interested parties with a view to selling APMS Ambulance Services Limited and not going to continue to provide regulated activities.
An application to cancel APMS Ambulance Service Limited registration and cancel all the activities we regulate was received on 10 May 2021 and we cancelled the providers registration for all regulated activities on the 13 May 2021.
To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we normally ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? During this urgent responsive inspection, we looked at parts of the safe and well led domain.
We found that:
- Leaders did not ensure that patients, staff and the public were protected from abuse.
- Leaders did not consistently follow the providers recruitment policy.
- Leaders did not demonstrate integrity and honesty in relation to the management of the service.
- The provider did not apply effective governance processes for the employment of staff, specifically those with criminal records.
- Leaders did not demonstrate a culture of openness and honesty within the service which may have placed patients and staff at risk.