Archived: Keynsham Vehicle Base

Updated 3 April 2020

Keynsham Vehicle Base is operated by Tascor Services Limited. Tascor has been providing a service to a local mental health trust since 2007 and serves the communities of Avon and Wiltshire, along with north Somerset and south Gloucestershire. The service occasionally carries out transport to repatriate patients from or to elsewhere within the United Kingdom.

Two teams of specialist staff are employed by the provider. One group provides transport for patients who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The other group provide transport for voluntary patients attending treatment at hospitals and a non-emergency patient transport service for people with dementia to attend day centres.

Updated 3 April 2020

Keynsham Vehicle Base is operated by Tascor Services Limited which is part of the Capita PLC group. They provide a patient transport service. They are located on a trading estate in Keynsham in the south west of England. The service provides non-emergency ambulance transport for people with mental health conditions, most of whom are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. The service also provides transport for non-detained patients, for example patients living with dementia who attend day centre groups.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the short-notice announced inspection on 28 January 2020.

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 was patient transport.

We rated it as Requires improvement overall.

• There was no safeguarding lead for the service to support and advise staff.

• The service did not control infection risks well.

• Equipment was not always within its use by date and stored securely whilst in vehicles.

• Staff did not always check vehicles to make sure any objects that could cause harm were removed.

• Managers did not use their information systems to monitor the quality of the service.

• Records of audits did not contain enough detail to provide assurance of safety on an ongoing basis.

• Patient paper records were not audited or kept in line with guidance for NHS patients.

• There were gaps in the process and records of recruitment of new employees.

• The managers had not devised a vision for staff to follow.

• Managers were aware of the risks to their service, but this was not recorded.

We found good practice in relation to patient transport:

• 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. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them.
• The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
• Staff provided good care and treatment and gave patients enough to eat and drink.
• Managers made sure staff were competent.
• Staff worked well together with other agencies for the benefit of patients.
• The provider planned their service to meet the needs of local people and took account of patients’ individual needs. They made it easy for people to give feedback.
• People could access the service when they needed it.

• Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care.

• The service engaged with the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

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

Nigel Acheson

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (London and South), on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Updated 3 April 2020

Patient transport services was the provider’s only activity. They provided services for a local NHS trust where they transported patients who were detained under the Mental Health Act and other patients with mental health illnesses. The service was for adults.