‘Good’ rating for ERS Medical in the East
ERS Medical’s East region has been rated as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)!
The CQC inspectors visited ERS Medical’s locations in Norwich, Kings Lynn, Snetterton and Chelmsford to conduct an inspection as part of its Quality Report. The four sites combined make up ERS Medical’s East region where it delivers non-emergency patient transport services (NEPTS) to Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.
The CQC is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England – whether this is the NHS, local authorities, independent or voluntary organisations that provide those care services. The CQC’s role is to ensure people get quality care.
The same five questions are asked during every inspection of any service: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs, and well-led? Both ERS Medical as a business overall and its patient transport services were rated as good in four of the categories.
Are ERS Medical’s services safe?
The CQC rated safe as ‘good’ because:
- Mandatory training compliance rates for staff was 96%.
- There were effective processes to ensure vehicle and equipment maintenance was up to date.
- There were effective processes to prevent the risk of infection.
- Medicines were managed well, in line with policy and national guidelines.
- Risk assessment and monitoring of patients was carried out to ensure patient safety during transport.
Are ERS Medical’s services effective?
The CQC rated effective as ‘good’ because:
- Policies and procedures were up to date and in line with national guidance.
- The service was performing well against the key performance indicators outlined in the non-emergency transport service contract.
- The service worked well with other health care providers to provide the best care for patients.
- Staff received annual competency update training to maintain their skills to deliver care to service users.
Are ERS Medical’s services caring?
The CQC rated caring as ‘good’ because:
- We observed staff treating patients with kindness, dignity and respect.
- Staff told us that delivering good care was what they enjoyed most about their job.
- Patient survey results showed that 89% of service users felt staff were kind and treated them with dignity and respect.
Are ERS Medical’s services responsive?
The CQC rated responsive as ‘good’ because:
- The service was planned and managed in line with the commissioning agreement in place.
- There was information available to service users about how to make a complaint. Complaints were handled in line with the service complaints policy.
- The service had good oversight of the booking process. Pick up and drop off times were monitored and patients were informed about delays.
Is ERS Medical well led?
The CQC rate well led as ‘requires improvement’ because:
- Leadership of the service had the capability to deliver high quality and sustainable care. However there had been recent changes in the local management structure and this had impacted on the visibility of the leadership team.
ERS Medical Head of Care Standards, Simon Smith, said: “As a business we have incredibly high standards in place with robust policies and procedures to ensure the best patient care is delivered. The feedback from the CQC inspection highlights this along with the pride our team members take in delivering quality care.
“Now that ERS Medical has embedded its policies and procedures we can concentrate on ensuring we continue to deliver a high level of service and continue to improve our leadership. We had identified the issues around local leadership prior to the inspection and made significant changes which were recognised by the CQC in their report. We look forward to fully implementing further improvements.”
The CQC regulates independent ambulance services but at the time of the inspection did not have a legal duty to rate them. Instead, they concentrated on highlighting good practice and any issues that service providers needed to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.
To read to CQC Quality Report in full please visit: https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-4085173244
