The Care Quality Commission
  • Ambulance service

Adastral Park (Martlesham)

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Adastral Park, Martlesham, Suffolk, IP5 3RE (01473) 651037

Provided and run by:
British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

All Inspections

16 November 2022

During a routine inspection

We have not previously rated this service. We rated it as good because:

  • Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service. The learning culture of the service was strong with a focus on learning and training each week. All incidents were discussed for learning each week and progress was formalised using a centralised learning log. Leaders undertook thorough investigations of incidents to maximise learning.
  • The service controlled infection risk well and had made improvements in infection prevention and control since our last inspection. The service and its vehicle and equipment were visibly clean and audits were undertaken to assure leaders of the cleanliness of the service.
  • The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service ensured that children were safeguarded during treatment.
  • Staff were supported to develop their skill set and enhance their competency. There was a strong culture of competency progression.
  • The service worked with partners to ensure the best care is offered to all patients. This included working with the local NHS ambulance trust to receive training and to support the local community as community first responders, and working with the retained fire service at Adastral Park to ensure any joint emergency responses were as effective as possible.
  • Processes to review the effectiveness and safety of the service were established, with staff being informed of all KPI performance with a whole team approach towards meeting KPI’s.
  • The governance of the service was robust, with an established process that caught all aspects of governance for review, such as audits, incidents and training and fed back to staff.
  • Staff provided good care and treatment based on current guidelines. Guidelines were updated and created in response to national updates and learning from other providers. The service met agreed response times. Managers continually monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients.
  • Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, and respected their privacy and dignity. They provided emotional support to patients.
  • The service planned care to meet the needs of the population it served, 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 too long for emergency care.
  • Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities.
  • Leaders were visible, and ensured there were robust governance, assurance and risk processes for the service and the staff. Risk assessments underpinned the work undertaken by the service.

However:

  • There was no formal process for recording the additional service-required training alongside British Telecommunication’s manual training package.
  • The service had no completed labels on any sharps bins.
  • The service had not been successful in obtaining patient feedback.
  • The service did not have a formal vision or strategy.

We rated this service as good because it was safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led.

17 October 2017

During a routine inspection

Adastral Park (Martlesham) is a private ambulance service which provides first aid support to those working in and visiting Adastral Park Business Park. All staff working for Adastral Park (Martlesham) work at Adastral Business Park and provide their service on a voluntary basis.Adastral Park (Martlesham) is operated by Adastral Park (Martlesham). It provides a patient transport service.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an announced inspection on 17 October 2017.

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.

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:

  • The team carried out an annual major incident simulation training to ensure that the staff were prepared if an incident occurred on the site.

  • There was a dedicated team of skilled volunteers who were proud to be part of the rapid response team and demonstrated excellent team work.

  • There was a comprehensive training schedule in place to ensure that staff had the appropriate skills to respond to medical incidents at the site.

  • The rapid response team worked together with the local ambulance trust as community first responders. This ensured training for team members and allowed them to maintain their skills. Team members were able to support the ambulance service in the local community.

  • The service was recognised and valued by the working population of the business park.

  • Comprehensive and appropriate risk assessments and policies were in place.

  • A red flag protocol was in place to ensure that a medical emergency outside of the skill level of the rapid response team was escalated to the 999 service immediately.

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

  • There was a lack of formal governance. Incidents were not recorded and learning from incidents was not shared with staff effectively outside of team training sessions.

  • There was a lack of oversight of equipment servicing.

  • There was a lack of oversight of stock control and monitoring of consumable items expiration dates.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations and that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. We also issued the provider with one requirement notice Details are at the end of the report.

Heidi Smoult

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals

10 January 2013

During a routine inspection

We were not able to talk with people who had received support and treatment from the service. During our inspection we spoke with the manager and two staff members.

We found that the provider was compliant in all of the outcome areas that we inspected. We saw that there were systems in place to ensure that people received a good quality and safe service from staff who were trained in their role.

In this report the name of a Registered Manager, Ian Catchpole, appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a Registered Manager on our register at the time. We spoke with the service's manager and they assured us that they would formally notify us of the changes in management of the service. They would also make an application to cancel the previous registered manager to allow us to remove them from our records.