The Care Quality Commission
  • Ambulance service

Head Office

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit 29, The Wenta Business Centre, 1 Electric Avenue, Enfield, EN3 7XU 07958 372471

Provided and run by:
SSC Secure Transport Ltd

Important: This service was previously registered at a different address - see old profile

All Inspections

During an assessment of Patient transport services

Head Office was managed by SSC Secure Transport Ltd. The service provided secure transport for patients with mental health conditions, including patients detained under the Mental Health Act. The service collected patients from their own homes, hospitals, and custodial settings. They transported patients to hospitals or other facilities to receive treatment for their mental health conditions.

We carried out a responsive assessment of the service on the 24 June 2026. This followed our February 2023 assessment, where the service was rated requires improvement overall and in the safe and well-led key questions.

During this assessment, we rated the service as good. The provider had made improvements since the February 2023 assessment. This included completing individual risk assessments and introducing clearer inclusion and exclusion criteria for secure transport. Staff told us they felt supported by managers and spoke positively about the working environment. The service had also improved induction and training, introduced key performance indicators and maintained vehicles to a good standard.

However, we remained concerned about monitoring patients’ physical health during and after restraint and sedation, and the recording of observations. We also had concerns that information governance systems did not ensure the confidentiality of patient records.

We found ongoing breaches to regulation 12 relating to safe care and treatment and regulation 17 relating to good governance. An action plan will be requested upon publication of the final report.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

Head Office was managed by SSC Secure Transport Ltd. The service provided secure transport for patients with mental health conditions, including patients detained under the Mental Health Act. The service collected patients from their own homes, hospitals, and custodial settings. They transported patients to hospitals or other facilities to receive treatment for their mental health conditions.

We carried out a responsive assessment of the service on the 24 June 2026. This followed our February 2023 assessment, where the service was rated requires improvement overall and in the safe and well-led key questions.

During this assessment, we rated the service as good. The provider had made improvements since the February 2023 assessment. This included completing individual risk assessments and introducing clearer inclusion and exclusion criteria for secure transport. Staff told us they felt supported by managers and spoke positively about the working environment. The service had also improved induction and training, introduced key performance indicators and maintained vehicles to a good standard.

However, we remained concerned about monitoring patients’ physical health during and after restraint and sedation, and the recording of observations. We also had concerns that information governance systems did not ensure the confidentiality of patient records.

We found ongoing breaches to regulation 12 relating to safe care and treatment and regulation 17 relating to good governance. An action plan will be requested upon publication of the final report.

8 February 2023

During a routine inspection

We inspected Head Office using our comprehensive methodology on 8 February 2023. It is the first time we rated this service. We rated it as requires improvement because:

  • The service did not keep detailed records of patients’ care and treatment including information related to journey booking, individual risks assessments, and physical interventions.
  • The service did not formally review individual risks at the time when transport was booked.
  • The service had not developed detailed acceptance criteria or identified possible exclusions that might prevent them from service provision.
  • The service could not demonstrate vehicle safety checks were undertaken regularly as set by internal processes.

However:

  • The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
  • Staff provided good care and treatment. The service met agreed response times. Managers made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients. They treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and took account of their individual needs.
  • The service planned care to meet the needs of local people took account of patients' individual needs and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not experience transport delays.
  • Leaders ran services well. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services.

We rated this service as requires improvement overall. The service was rated requires improvement for safe and well led domains and good for effective and responsive. We did not rate the caring domain as we did not have sufficient evidence to rate it.