Prime Care Ambulance Service is an independent ambulance service provider based in Wigan, Lancashire. Prime Care Ambulance Service is registered to provide patient transport services. Prime Care Ambulance Service offers ambulance transport on an ‘as required’ basis and provides pre-planned transport. PTS service are provided on request from a local NHS ambulance trust.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out a scheduled comprehensive inspection on 5 December 2017. The service had one registered base and a separate station to park ambulance vehicles which we inspected.

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 patient transport.

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.

Professor Edward Baker

Chief Inspector of Hospitals

During our previous visit we made a judgement of non- compliance in relation to requirements relating to workers; assessing and monitoring the quality of the service and records.

During this visit we saw that improvements had been made by the organisation to ensure appropriate recruitment processes were in place; records were maintained for the evaluation of the provider for assessment and monitoring purposes and the management of records.

We visited the service on the 19 June 2013 and received further information in relation to the inspection on 11 July 2013.

The representatives told us that the service always requests information about the patient to ensure that their journey is well planned. One person commented that there was “overriding positive experience at all times.”

Systems were in place to record people’s needs to ensure that they were transported in a manner that protected their health and welfare.

Systems were in place to ensure that equipment was maintained and vehicles were cleaned appropriately.

We found that improvements were needed on what checks were carried out on newly recruited staff prior to them starting their role. In addition, improvements were needed on how the service managed their records.