E-Zec Hereford

Updated 7 February 2024

E-Zec Hereford is an independent patient transport provider that provides non urgent, planned transport for medical patients to and from NHS services. It supports patients who are registered with a GP in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and surrounding areas, including parts of Wales.

The service had a fleet of 24 vehicles, including cars, vehicles for transporting people in stretchers, and vehicles with wheelchair access.

Between April and October 2023, the service completed 42,092 journeys. One hundred and fourteen were for children and young people under the age of 16, 1,155 were for bariatric patients and 11 were transfers from a mental health facility without a section.

The service has been registered since 2016 and a registered manager has been in place since registration. Registered managers have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements of the Health and Social Care Act and associated regulations about how the service is run.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

Transport services, triage, and medical advice provided remotely.

In October 2020 the service was inspected but not rated however, multiple breaches of regulations were found included incident management, infection prevention and control, hygiene standards, storage of medical gases and maintenance of equipment. Since this inspection the service had worked to rectify these issues and at the time of the latest inspection met the required standards of regulation.

Updated 7 February 2024

The service had not been rated before. We rated it as good because:

• 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 controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, and assessed patients’ food and drink requirements. The service met agreed response times. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, and supported them to make decisions about their care.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People did not have to wait too long for transport.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However

People could not always access the telephone booking provision in a timely way and risk controls and mitigations were not always clear.

Updated 7 February 2024

The service had not been rated before. We rated it as good.

See the summary above for details.