• Ambulance service

Festival Medical Services

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Ashley House, Croscombe, Wells, Somerset, BA5 3QH (01749) 342684

Provided and run by:
Festival Medical Services

All Inspections

27 August 2022, 23 September 2022

During a routine inspection

This service had not been previously inspected. We rated it as good because:

  • The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff completed mandatory training in core subjects and knew how to keep people safe and protected from abuse. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. Staff knew how to report patient safety incidents.
  • Staff provided good care and treatment and managers monitored the effectiveness of the service. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients.
  • Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions.
  • The service planned care to meet the needs of the people who attended the events, 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 for treatment. Staff went above and beyond to make adjustments to help meet the needs of individual patients.
  • Leaders had the skills and abilities to run the service and were visible and approachable. The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve. Staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities. Risks were recorded effectively.

However:

  • The service did not always make patients aware they could request a chaperone.
  • Checks of radiographer compliance against identify confirmation needed to improve. Staff meetings did not follow a standard agenda to ensure consistency.
  • Not all polices had effective from dates and many had not been signed to confirm they had been authorised. Paper copies of x-ray requests and reports were not scanned and stored electronically off site. Governance systems were not yet tested or embedded and not all available information was routinely being reviewed.

16 July 2013

During a routine inspection

Festival Medical Services (FMS) provided medical services at two annual music festivals, Glastonbury and Reading. The staff who provided these service do so on a voluntary basis and the fees paid by the festival organisers were donated to charity.

FMS provided patient transport services from events to hospital for patients who required further treatment. They also provided an emergency onsite radiology diagnostic service for people who attended the festivals.

During the inspection we visited the provider and reviewed the records held about the service. We were unable to speak with patients who had used the service. This was because the service provided 'one off' patient transfers and diagnostics and patients were not available.

We read feedback from people who used the service which included comments such as "thanks for the excellent help I received from your team when I damaged myankle...everyone there was thoroughly professional" and "the staff at the Festival Medical Services were brilliant, totally professional but friendly and informal." We saw the provider had an effective system in place to identify, assess and manage risks to the health, safety and welfare of people using the service.