The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action to urgently suspend Somerset’s privately-run Premier Rescue Ambulance Service Limited from operating, following serious concerns that were found at an inspection in April.
Premier Rescue Ambulance Service Limited, based in Taunton, provides a patient transport service to people living in Devon and Somerset and the surrounding areas. The service provides non-emergency ambulance transport for adults with mental health conditions, most of who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The service also provides transport for non-detained adult patients, for example patients who are voluntarily going into hospital for referral or treatment.
The service was previously rated as requires improvement overall, but following the announced comprehensive inspection in April, it is now rated as inadequate. It was also rated inadequate for being safe, effective, responsive, and well-led. There was insufficient evidence to rate the caring domain.
Cath Campbell, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said:
“When we inspected Premier Rescue Ambulance Service Limited, we found the provider had not taken action to make the improvements we told them to at their last inspection to ensure staff and patients were safe.
“It was very concerning that the provider had not completed recruitment checks to assess the background of staff and whether they were safe to be working alone with vulnerable patients, or even whether they had the skills and knowledge to care for people effectively.
“We also found people were being put at further risk, as the provider had not ensured staff were completing mandatory training to carry out essential tasks, or whether they were following company protocols and national guidelines. This didn’t just put patients at risk, it also potentially put staff in harm’s way.
“Our inspection findings showed that patients were at immediate risk of harm, so we took the decision to urgently suspend the service to allow the provider to take action on our findings. We will return to ensure the improvements have been made, before they are able to operate again, in order to protect people using their services.”
CQC told the provider that it must do the following:
- The provider must have enough suitably trained, skilled, and competent staff to carry out their duties, including ensuring staff are up to date with mandatory training and key skills for their roles. This also includes conducting recruitment checks and keeping records of these, making sure staff are suitable to be working with vulnerable patients
- Improve the processes to determine the risk to and from the patients it transports
- Assess the risk of the spread of infections and also their prevention and detection, including healthcare associated infections
- Ensure all equipment is clean and properly maintained. Inspectors found a lot of equipment was visibly dirty, including the first aid kit and a hand sanitising bottle that was growing mould. There was staining on the fabric seats and the soft cuffs and leg restraints used on patients, and there were open mouldy food products in the vehicle
- Ensure all vehicles are roadworthy, clean and have a proper cleaning schedule with an adequate system to report defects to vehicles
- Monitor and assess the quality of the service provided
- The incident management system must be improved to reflect accurate monitoring and management and evidence of shared learning with staff
- Ensure all policies relied upon are complete, contain details of assessing and monitoring, provide direction for staff and include best practice guidelines and national guidance.
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published on our website.
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