ER Systems Global - Headquarters

Updated 13 August 2018

Emergency Response Systems is operated by Emergency Response Systems Ltd. The service opened in July 2016. It is an independent ambulance service with headquarters based in Gloucester. The service primarily serves the communities of the North East of England having taken over a company in April 2017, which was the operational base. At the time of the inspection the company did not have contracts with NHS providers, but provided an ad-hoc service on demand of local trusts.

We inspected both the headquarters and operational base using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 15, 16, 18 and 19 January 2018.

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?

The service has had a registered manager in post since May 2011.

At the time of the inspection the service was working with three local NHS trusts and two NHS ambulance services.

Updated 13 August 2018

Emergency Response Systems is operated by Emergency Response Systems Ltd. The service provides a patient transport service.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 15 – 16 January and 18 – 19 January 2018.

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.

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:

• There were excellent governance and reporting systems and arrangements which enabled decision making.
• Feedback from both patients and local hospitals was overwhelming positive about the service provided by Emergency Response Systems.
• The service had received no formal complaints in the previous 12 months.
• Safety incidents were managed well.
• There were good standards of cleanliness and hygiene both at the ambulance base and on ambulances and staff had a good understanding of their role regarding infection control.

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

• There was no person in the organisation trained to Level 4 safeguarding for children and young people.

Professor Edward Baker

Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Updated 13 August 2018

Emergency Response Systems Ltd primarily provided non-emergency patient transport services.

The service was well led with experienced and capable leaders who drove improvements in the service with a focus on the best possible care. Leaders promoted a positive staff culture and encouraged staff development to deliver the high quality and treatment for all patients. There were effective systems to ensure patients received safe and high-quality care and treatment at all times.