Archived: International Medical Assistance t/a IMA Lifeline

Electric House, Ninian Way, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B77 5DE (01827) 261144

Provided and run by:
International Medical Assistance

All Inspections

25 October and 1 November 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

When we registered this service in October 2011 we had concerns about non compliance with the regulations. Four conditions of registration were made. When we inspected again in February 2012 we continued to have concerns. We subsequently took enforcement action and three further conditions were imposed on their registration. The additional conditions were as follows:

The Registered Person must ensure that Mr JD Morales does not drive in the course of carrying on regulated activities.

The Registered Person must ensure that Mr J D Morales does not have any direct contact with service users in the course of carrying on regulated activities.

The registered person must ensure that Mr JD Morales does not work with children or come into contact with children during the course of carrying on the regulated activities.

On this inspection we were accompanied on the second day by one of our professional advisers. We visited to check that improvements had been made and that the company was complying with the conditions and regulations. The provider told us that they were not providing any of the regulated activities but as the service was registered and able to provide a service to people we looked at all the areas where concerns had previously been identified.

As the provider was not providing a service to people we were unable to obtain information from people that had recently received a service.

19 February 2012

During an inspection looking at part of the service

When we registered this independent ambulance service in October 2011 we had some major concerns about non compliance with regulations. As a result we made four conditions of registration, requiring the provider to be compliant with those conditions by 1 December 2011.

At that time we also had concerns relating to five other outcome areas and required improvements to be made The compliance date for those improvements was 1 November 2011.

We carried out this inspection visit on 3 February 2012 to check compliance with the conditions of registration and also to check that improvement actions had been taken.

Whilst improvements had been made in some areas the four conditions of registration had not been met and there were continuing breaches of regulations.

We found that two of the five areas for improvement had been met but three were still not compliant. We also looked at the care and welfare of people (outcome 4) and found that people were not being protected against the risk of inappropriate or unsafe care.

We spoke with three people who had used the service recently and they were very satisfied with the care they had received from IMA Lifeline. We also spoke with a senior nurse from a hospital trust that contracts with IMA and they were pleased with the service that had been provided to their hospital describing it as "Respectful, friendly and professional."

Although some improvements were noticed during our visit and recognised within this report, we still have significant concerns surrounding the service. These include maintenance of some medical equipment and a lack of staff training in the use of equipment, including life saving equipment. Training had also not been undertaken relating to safeguarding or the prevention and control of infection. This could potentially put people at risk of harm.