The Ambulance Station was operated by Manone Medical Limited; it was a patient transport service.

We carried out an unannounced inspection on 11 and 12 September 2018.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we asked 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.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• The culture of the service was positive. Management were visible, open and transparent and created an ethos of inclusiveness with staff.

• The service had developed a clear risk assessment for ambulance staff to safely assess risk of patients referred for transfer.

• All staff were up to date with mandatory training including safeguarding training for children and adults.

• The service managed cleanliness, infection control and hygiene well.

• The service made use of electronic systems to ensure flow of information and communication.

• The service had a thorough induction package for new staff and staff were encouraged to complete refresher training.

• There were effective support systems in place for ambulance staff.

• The service had developed useful auditing systems to identify areas for development and monitoring. The service made improvements following analysis of audits.

• Staff were engaged with the overall vision of the service and were motivated to provide a good service to patients.

However, we found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

• The service did not assure us that where lessons were learned following incidents, that this was communicated to all staff.

• There were no lockable cupboards within the ambulances to store confidential information.

• Consideration of adjustments made for patients with special requirements.

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.

Ellen Armistead

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (North Region), on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals.