Ambulance service is rated as ‘inadequate’ by watchdog
AN independent ambulance service operating in North Weald has been rated ‘inadequate’ by care inspectors after finding concerns about people’s safety.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has placed urgent conditions on the registration of Essex Ambulance Service Ltd, in Merlin Way, .
These require it to assure CQC that people are safe, following an inspection in November 2023.
The inspectors’ findings resulted in the service being rated ‘inadequate’ overall. It has also been rated ‘inadequate’ for how safe, effective, responsive, and well-led it is. The service was not rated on how caring it is due to insufficient evidence.
The Essex Ambulance Service Limited is an independent ambulance service primarily providing patient transport services, as well as maintained vehicles and that staff first aid cover to public events. worked together well.
Patient transport services means The service had 32 members of transporting people who aren’t critically staff and 15 vehicles at the time of ill to, from, and between inspection. healthcare settings. This was the first time it had been
However, the service does also inspected by the CQC, which has perform some as-needed also imposed urgent conditions urgent and emergency on the service’s care work for the registration due to NHS on weekends. concerns about
Inspectors people’s safety. found that equipment This requires was not the service to always maintained provide fortnightly or available evidence for staff and to the CQC on staff did not what it has done always have the to address the concerns training needed to found. effectively support Hazel Roberts, CQC people with mental health deputy director of operations conditions. in the East of England, said:
The CQC did find that people “When we inspected the Essex were cared for in clean and well- Ambulance Service, we were deeply
Hazel Roberts concerned to find leaders weren’t managing the safety and quality of people’s care well.
“This had led to significant shortfalls in standards being met and meant that people who found themselves using this service in emergency situations weren’t safe.
“We found staff didn’t always have the mandatory training they needed to meet people’s needs safely.
“For example, not all staff were trained on how to recognise people’s health deteriorating.
“We were very concerned by medicines management throughout the service, and inspectors found vehicles stocked with medicines that were out-of-date or unidentifiable.
“We also saw no evidence that staff had received training to give people medications safely, putting them at risk.
“Leaders at the service weren’t always checking staff had the skills necessary to perform their roles and had failed to identify the issues we saw.
“When things went wrong, we found they hadn’t always investigated or learned from these incidents to protect people in future.
“We’ve taken enforcement action to make sure immediate and significant improvements are made.
“We’ll continue to monitor the service closely, including through further inspections, to ensure people are receiving safe care.”
Martin Collier, the service’s director, told the BBC that work had begun to fix the issues.
He said the service had voluntarily suspended its regulated activity for the treatment of disease, disorder or injury in light of the inspection.
He added: “We continue to work with the Care Quality Commission and await further inspection in due course,.
People who found themselves using this service in emergency
situations weren’t safe.