The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action to keep people safe following an inspection of Mobile Medical Cover, an independent ambulance service based in Grimsby, north east Lincolnshire.
The service provides non-emergency patient transport across Lincolnshire as well as emergency and urgent care at public events.
CQC’s inspection in May was carried out to assess whether the service had made improvements, after it was rated inadequate and inspectors suspended its registration in February. The suspension was lifted in lifted in April following the provision of evidence by the provider which addressed immediate patient safety concerns.
Due to the level of concerns found at the latest inspection, CQC took enforcement action and suspended the provider’s registration again until August to protect patients from the risk of harm and to ensure the necessary improvements are made.
Following the inspection, the service was rated inadequate overall, and for being safe and well-led. It was rated requires improvement for being effective and responsive. The domain of caring wasn’t inspected at this time.
Sarah Dronsfield, CQC head of hospital inspection said:
“It was disappointing that when we returned to Mobile Medical Cover, significant failures were continuing to put people at risk.
“CQC used its powers to immediately suspend the service’s registration to protect people from the risk of avoidable harm, and to give the provider the opportunity to take the necessary actions to address our concerns.
“The service continued to demonstrate poor infection prevention and control practices in both the environment and each individual ambulance we saw. We saw infection prevention and control audits completed by the management did not reflect the findings of the inspection team.
"Although the provider had made some repairs to the interior of the ambulances, these repairs were not fit for purpose and meant the ambulances could not be effectively cleaned. In addition, medicines weren’t separated which posed a risk of incorrect administration.
“We found little improvement in leadership and management of the service following the previous inspection. Issues with the quality of the service had not been identified or addressed and the service had made little improvement. The registered manager was unable to articulate their role and responsibilities and how they planned to improve the service.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely to ensure people are receiving safe care. If we find this is not happening, we will not hesitate to take further action in line with our regulatory powers.”
The latest inspection found that:
- The service failed to ensure robust infection prevention control measures were in place which follow current government guidance and legislation
- Managers continued to be unable to demonstrate a full understanding of their roles and responsibilities and the duties delegated to them by the Health and Social Care Act 2008
- There continued to be poor management of medicines and medical gases including storage, dispensing, administration, recording and disposal in line with best practice guidance
- The service failed to ensure risk assessments were done effectively
- There were no effective systems in place to assess and monitor the quality of care for patients
- The service failed to share outcomes of incident investigations with the patient, their families and carers and their own staff.