Updated 22 January 2020
County Medics Ltd is operated by County Medics Ltd. The service opened in May 2018. It is an independent ambulance service in Evesham, Worcestershire. The service primarily serves the communities of the Worcestershire and surrounding counties however, it also provides a service across the United Kingdom.
The service has not previously been inspected.
The service has had a registered manager in post since May 2018.
Updated 22 January 2020
County Medics Ltd is operated by County Medics Ltd. The service primarily provides medical cover at events that is not regulated by the CQC. However, as part of the service County Medics Ltd provide transfers of patients who require an emergency or urgent transfer from an event to a hospital which is reported on in the emergency and urgent care service. (There were three emergency and urgent patient transfers from November 2018 to October 2019).
Patient transport services make up approximately 30% of activity. The service also provides a repatriation service; however, no repatriations had been undertaken at the time of our inspection. County Medics Ltd also provide training such as first aid at work, trauma training, and emergency blue light driving however, this is not regulated by the CQC and was not assessed during this inspection.
The service is staffed by trained paramedics and ambulance technicians.
We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 14 November 2019.
To get to the heart of patients’ experiences, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, 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. The management and leadership of the service is the same for both emergency and urgent care and the patient transport service. All substantive staff deliver both the emergency and urgent care transport service and the patient transport service. Where our findings on patient transfer services – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the patient transport service core service.
We found good practice in relation to emergency and urgent care and patient transport services:
We rated is as Good overall.
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. They managed medicines well. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
Staff provided good care and treatment, gave patients enough to eat and drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it. Managers made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. Key services were available seven days a week.
From what we were told, 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 could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
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,
The service did not always manage patient safety incidents well. Staff did not always recognise incidents and near misses or report them appropriately. This meant managers could not always investigate incidents and share lessons learned with the whole team, the wider service and partner organisations.
The service did not always monitor and meet agreed response times so that they could facilitate good outcomes for patients. They could not consistently use the findings to make improvements.
Leaders did not always operate effective governance processes, throughout the service and with partner organisations.
Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. Details are at the end of the report.
Updated 22 January 2020
Patient transport services were a large proportion of activity. The majority of activity was medical cover provided for sports games, festivals, and community events. Events work is not regulated by the CQC however, transfers from an event to hospital is in scope. From November 2018 to October 2019 County Medics Ltd completed three emergency and urgent transfers of patients from an event to a local accident and emergency department.
The main regulated service was patient transport services, which included the transfer of patients between health care providers for patients who were unable to use public or other transport due to their medical condition. Leaders were not able to provide the number of patient transport journeys carried out from November 2018 to October 2019.
There were four substantive members of staff who undertook patient transport journeys; they were supplemented by bank (temporary) staff employed on an ad hoc basis to support events.
We have rated this service as good overall.
Updated 22 January 2020
Urgent and emergency services were a small proportion of activity and made up under 1% of activity. From November 2018 to October 2019 County Medics Ltd completed three emergency and urgent transfers of patients from an event to a local accident and emergency department. The main service provided by this ambulance service was patient transport services. Where our findings on patient transport services – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the patient transport services section.
Equipment, vehicles and most processes were the same for both the urgent and emergency services and the patient transport services.
We have rated this service as good overall.