North West Medical Solutions Ltd

Ratings

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

North West Medical Solutions Ltd (NWMS) is an independent ambulance service based in St. Helens who a provide private patient medical transportation service and event medical cover across the UK.

As part of this assessment, we visited the ambulance base.

Patient transport services were non‑urgent, and non‑specialist involved moving patients between hospitals, their homes, and other locations. Examples included journeys from home to a care home, home to respite care, and to end‑of‑life care facilities.

They provided private patient transport services through direct referrals from the public. Some of these journeys were long‑distance.

In 2025, the service completed nine patient transport journeys, including end‑of‑life transfers. Although these were small numbers, the provider was working to grow this part of the service. They were providing private journeys and transfers requested by local authorities. The local authority areas included St Helens, Wigan, Preston, South Ribble and Warrington. Requests typically involved transporting adults and children between home and respite settings or supporting the safe movement of children being removed from families by the police.

As emergency and urgent care is the main service. Findings from patient transport services throughout the report for example, management arrangements, also apply to emergency and urgent care. We do not repeat this information but cross‑refer to the emergency and urgent care section.

Overall, we found that people received a good standard of care and treatment. The service had effective systems to keep people safe, a strong focus on learning and improvement, and visible, values‑driven leadership. People experienced clean, well-maintained environments when using the service. Staff described a culture that encouraged them to speak up, report incidents and suggest improvements, and leaders used a structured governance framework, regular audits and action plans to monitor quality and manage risk.

People's experience of this service

We spoke with people transported to accident and emergency by NWMS and two relatives or carers. All described staff as warm, kind and professional, and said care was effective. People with protected characteristics felt respected and supported, pain was well managed, and they had time to ask questions and feel reassured.

Feedback from calls, emails and over 100 online reviews was overwhelmingly positive. People consistently described crews as calm, reassuring and professional, including during end‑of‑life transfers.

Staff gathered information in advance and used communication tools. They were trained in consent, capacity, autism and learning disability awareness, and considered cultural and social needs to support informed choices.

People were encouraged to give feedback through QR codes and follow‑up surveys, and positive comments were used to recognise staff. Only one complaint had been received in the last year and was appropriately managed.

Care was timely and well organised. Journeys were planned around appointments, and crews coordinated with receiving teams for smooth transfers. At events, people received prompt assessment and conveyance when needed.

Overall, people reported very positive experiences and felt safe, respected and well cared for, with strong evidence of a compassionate culture.