Archived: Personal Security Service

Updated 13 August 2019

Personal Security Service is operated by Personal Security Service Limited. It is a private independent ambulance service operating in Southgate, North London. The service primarily serves the communities of North London. It also accepts patient transport requests from outside this area. The service registered with CQC in 2013 and this was their fifth inspection.

Personal Security Service provides a secure patient transport service to vulnerable adults with mental health problems. This includes transporting a patient sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983. Most journeys involve the transport of a patient from one hospital to another. Depending on patient’s needs and associated risks the transport is carried out in low secure or high secure vehicles fitted with a secure area (cell) in the rear section of the vehicle. The service provides a driver, escorts, and registered mental health nurse (RMN) if requested by hospital staff.

The service has had a registered manager in post since 2013. At the time of inspection, they were registered to provide regulated activities of transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely.

Updated 13 August 2019

Personal Security Service is operated by Personal Security Service Limited. The service provides patient transport services.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced visit to the hospital on 6 June 2019.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led?

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The main service provided by this service was patients transport service.

This is a first time we rate this service. We rated it as requires improvement overall because:

• Leaders had limited awareness of their responsibilities in relation to the provision of service governed by the Mental Health Act 1983.
• Staff did not always complete comprehensive risk assessments for each patient to remove or minimise risks.
• Staff did not always keep detailed records of patients’ care and treatment.
• Systems and processes for reporting and reviewing incidents were relatively new and not yet fully embedded into practice.
• The service did not always provide care and treatment based on national guidance and evidence-based practice.
• Staff did not follow national guidance to gain patients’ consent or to ensure care and treatment were in line with it.
• Not all staff received mandatory training in key skills.

However, we also found:

• The service had enough staff to meet the demands of the service.
• Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse, and they knew how to apply it.
• The service controlled infection risk well.
• The design, maintenance and use of facilities, premises, vehicles, and equipment kept people safe.
• The service had measures to meet patients’ nutrition and hydration needs.
• The service routinely collected and monitored key information including response times. People could access the service when they needed it, in line with national standards, and received the right care in a timely way.
• The service planned and provided care in a way that met the needs of local people and the communities served.
• It was easy for people to give feedback and raise concerns about care received.
• Staff felt respected, supported, and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care.
• Leaders and teams used systems to manage performance effectively. They had plans to cope with unexpected events.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations and that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. We also issued the provider with two requirement notices that affected transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely. Details are at the end of the report.

Nigel Acheson

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospital

Updated 13 August 2019