The Care Quality Commission
  • Ambulance service

Arley Medical Services Ltd Headquarters

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Unit 5a Arley Industrial Estate, Colliers Way, Arley, Coventry, West Midlands, CV7 8HN (01676) 937199

Provided and run by:
Arley Medical Services Ltd

All Inspections

21 March and 25 July 2023

During a routine inspection

We have not previously rated this service. We rated it as good because:

  • The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. The service-controlled infection risk well. They managed medicines 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 monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
  • Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families, and carers.
  • 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 have to wait too long for treatment.
  • Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. 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 and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services.

However:

  • Records were not always completed fully.
  • Managers did not provide yearly, constructive appraisals for all staff.
  • Staff were not provided with training in consent or the Mental Capacity Act.
  • Staff did not consistently complete and update risk assessments for each patient.
  • Staff training compliance for recognising and responding to patients with mental health needs, learning disabilities, autism and dementia was low.

6 April 2018

During a routine inspection

Arley Medical Services is operated by Arley Medical Services Ltd Headquarters . The service has one registered location at Unit 5a Arley Industrial Estate located in Arley and provides a range of public event first aid services and non-emergency patient transport. The scope of this inspection was focused on the conveyance of patients on an elective, non-urgent basis, and did not include first-aid event cover services; first aid event cover falls outside the scope of registration and so was not considered. The service has two vehicles which can be used for conveying patients.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 6 April 2018. Due to the nature of the service, we did not conduct an unannounced inspection.

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? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

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

Services we do not rate

We regulate independent ambulance services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them when they are provided as a single specialty service. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

We found the following areas of good practice:

  • There were appropriate processes and procedures for ensuring the delivery of safe, effective, high quality care. A range of local policies and procedures existed which staff were aware of however there was limited scope for the provider to assess compliance with such polices.
  • The service was staffed and supported by a range of health-care professionals who were competent and knowledgeable.
  • Patient record forms were used to record conveyances of patients. Telephone pre-assessments were carried out to ensure the condition of patients was appropriate prior to conveyance being agreed.
  • The vehicles used were visibly clean and well maintained.
  • There was evidence of learning having been implemented following the reporting of incidents. Staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities in regards to the reporting of, and learning from incidents.
  • Individual staff members knew about their own professional accountabilities and responsibilities.
  • The service was highly responsive to the needs of its patients. In part, this was because of the low levels of conveyances provided, which meant the provider was able to offer a flexible service to individual patients.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. Details are at the end of the report.

Heidi Smoult

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (Central region)