The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Reliance Ambulance Station, an independent ambulance service based in Chobham, Woking, inadequate overall and placed it into special measures.
The service has also been rated inadequate in relation to whether it is safe, effective, responsive and well-led, but it has not been rated in the caring domain, as there was insufficient evidence to do so.
Reliance Ambulance Station is operated by Reliance Ambulance Service Limited. It is an independent ambulance service is based in Woking. The service provides private patient transport and also undertakes patient transport for a local NHS trust and an NHS ambulance service.
Amanda Williams, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said:
“We had a number of concerns during our inspection of Reliance Ambulance Station. The service didn’t always have the appropriate policies in place to ensure it was being run properly, and we saw limited evidence of learning from incidents or the performance of the service to enable it to make improvements.
“One of the ambulances we looked at was visibly dirty, a stretcher was soiled, and liquid was leaking in one of the lockers which contained masks, gloves and aprons, so these were wet and no longer fit for use. We also found an unlocked vehicle which contained medicines not being stored at the correct temperature, and a cylinder of nitrous oxide which could easily have been accessed by members of the public.
“We have now told the provider it must take action to ensure that the service complies with legal requirements in order to keep people safe, and we have placed the service in special measures, which means that we will continue to monitor it closely and will reinspect it within six months. We also told the provider it must send us a report outlining what action it intends to take to address our concerns. We will continue to monitor the service to ensure that improvements are made and fully embedded.”
Inspectors found the following areas of concern:
- Leaders were not always clear about their roles and accountabilities
- Leaders did not monitor how effective the service was, or address or manage the key risks the service faced
- The service had limited systems to engage patients and the community to plan, manage and improve services. Staff did not collect or use information to improve the service
- The service could not assure inspectors that infection risks were controlled well through consistent standards of cleanliness
- There was no system in place to monitor whether staff had training in key skills
- The service did not manage or store medicines , including medical gases, safely
- The service did not investigate incidents or complaints in line with its policy
- There were not enough systems in place to take account of patients’ individual needs.
However:
- The service had enough supplies of personal protective equipment at the base and within vehicles
- The service had enough suitable equipment including defibrillation equipment and manual handling aids.
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published on our website.
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