24 January 2013
During a routine inspection
We gathered evidence of people's experiences of the service by speaking with staff at three different hospitals who made transport arrangements for patients. They all expressed positive views about the service and all of them told us they had never received any complaints from patients about the transport.
We also looked at correspondence received from people who had used the service. We saw that ambulance crews were described as 'professional', 'kind', 'caring', 'efficient' and 'competent'.
The provider had policies and procedures in place that influenced working practices such as; information governance; safeguarding: complaints: lifting and handling: and infection control.
We looked at records that showed that ambulance staff had received appropriate training.
At the time of our inspection the provider owned five vehicles and we were able to look at four of them. We saw that the vehicles were equipped to carry out their specialist functions. Documents we looked at showed they were all roadworthy and were serviced, checked and cleaned regularly.