15 December 2017
During a routine inspection
GB-EMS Group is operated by GB-EMS Group Ltd. GB-EMS provides emergency and urgent care and patient transport service.
We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced inspection on 15 December 2017.
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 emergency and urgent care services with some level of patient transport activity therefore we have reported findings in the emergency and urgent care core service.
Services we do not rate
We regulate independent ambulance services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them. 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:
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Staff reported incidents, and openness about safety was encouraged.
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Staff demonstrated infection control practices in line with organisational policies. Staff used personal protective equipment, and we saw vehicles and equipment were visibly clean.
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We inspected three vehicles. All vehicles had appropriate equipment and all equipment on the ambulances had been electrically tested, checked and maintained.
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Patient records were held securely and included appropriate information.
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Staffing levels were sufficient to meet patient needs.
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Staff demonstrated infection control practices in line with organisational policies. Staff used personal protective equipment, and we saw vehicles and equipment were visibly clean.
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Staff described and demonstrated their passion for providing good patient care.
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Staff were qualified and had the appropriate skills to carry out their roles effectively, and in line with best practice.
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Staff were supported to deliver effective care and treatment, through meaningful and timely supervision and appraisal.
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Staff felt valued and proud to work for the service.
However, we also found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:
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Ensure the service is meeting the requirements of the local Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) policy, when carrying out staff DBS checks.
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Ensure all staff understand the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and its relevance to their practice.
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Ensure all staff have knowledge of the principles of Duty of Candour, and for senior managers to understand the legal requirements and procedures that need to be followed when DoC is invoked.
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The registered manager to ensure they fully understand the legal requirements of their role and that they hold the overall accountability for the service.
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Ensure the service improves on the rudimentary monitoring of the key performance indicators (KPI’s) it undertook. They recognised the present monitoring was rudimentary and planned to improve it.