Festival Medical Services

Updated 10 November 2022

Festival Medical Services is a not-for-profit registered charity that provides doctors, nurses, paramedics, first responders and allied healthcare professionals (including radiographers) to music festivals and outdoor events throughout the UK. The service also offers offsite transfers for the events it covers on a contract by contract basis.

The service is registered for the regulated activities of:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely

Under the Health and Social Care Act 2014, transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely (referred to throughout the report as ‘patient transport’) includes transport services provided by means of a vehicle which is designed for the primary purpose of carrying a person who requires treatment. However, it includes the following exemptions:

• Transport services which are provided within the confines of the site or venue being use for an activity or event mentioned. This means, that as soon as the vehicle transporting the patient leaves the boundary of the event, we can inspect this regulated activity.

The service was contracted to provide offsite patient transfers for one event in 2022 but did not perform any offsite transfers, so the regulated activity of transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely was not inspected as part of this inspection.

For diagnostic imaging the service operates on a contract by contract basis and provides imaging services for two major festival events a year in South West England (Glastonbury and Reading)

The service also provides onsite medical cover for around 24 other events. However, this does not fall into the scope of registration, this means we cannot insect this aspect of the service.

All diagnostic imaging equipment (including maintenance) is supplied and provided by a third-party provider.

Diagnostic imaging is provided 24 hours a day for the duration of each festival and manned by volunteer staff who are qualified Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered radiographers. The service has 14 radiographers and five radiologists, all of whom are volunteers, including the service lead.

For the events season 2022 which ran between January 2022 and August 2022, the service undertook 302 x-rays and 5 ultrasound scans across the two events it provided diagnostic imaging services for.

This service was registered in December 2012 and has not yet been inspected under our new methodology.

We inspected the service in July 2013 under our previous methodology and all standards were met.

The service has had a registered manager in post since 28 December 2012.

Updated 10 November 2022

This service had not been previously inspected. We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff completed mandatory training in core subjects and knew how to keep people safe and protected from abuse. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. Staff knew how to report patient safety incidents.
• Staff provided good care and treatment and managers monitored the effectiveness of the service. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of the people who attended the events, 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 for treatment. Staff went above and beyond to make adjustments to help meet the needs of individual patients.
• Leaders had the skills and abilities to run the service and were visible and approachable. The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve. Staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities. Risks were recorded effectively.

However:

• The service did not always make patients aware they could request a chaperone.
• Checks of radiographer compliance against identify confirmation needed to improve. Staff meetings did not follow a standard agenda to ensure consistency.
• Not all polices had effective from dates and many had not been signed to confirm they had been authorised. Paper copies of x-ray requests and reports were not scanned and stored electronically off site. Governance systems were not yet tested or embedded and not all available information was routinely being reviewed.

Updated 10 November 2022

This service has not been previously inspected. We rated it as good.

See the summary above for details.