PTS-247 Limited

Updated 1 August 2022

PTS-247 Ltd is an independent ambulance service based in Crawley, West Sussex and is part of a group of small companies providing patient transport services in the local area. The service is sub-contracted to a large NHS ambulance provider and primarily serves the communities of Surrey and Sussex. Vehicles have been adapted to convey patients in wheelchairs. The service does not convey patients requiring stretchers. The service is managed from one office location with vehicles being based at the home address of each driver.

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?

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely

We inspected this location twice between April and June 2022. During the first inspection in April 2022 the registered manager changed. We found significant gaps in records which meant we required the provider to show us further evidence as assurance that the service was being managed safely. We returned to the service in June 2022 to review documents we had been unable to see on the first inspection along with assessing improvements that the service had made since the new registered manager had taken up their post. Registered managers have a legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act and associated regulations about how the service is run.

We last inspected the service in February 2020 and rated it as good overall.

Updated 1 August 2022

Our rating of this service went down. We rated it as requires improvement because:

• Managers did not always monitor the effectiveness of the service or ensured staff received a proper induction.
• Leaders did not have the skills and abilities to run the service. They did not always understand or manage the priorities and issues the service faced. Leaders did not operate effective governance processes and did not use systems to manage performance effectively. The recruitment process was not robust. Staff were not clear about their roles and accountabilities. Leaders did not always identify or escalate relevant risks or take action to reduce their impact. The service did not collect or analyse reliable data. Leaders did not actively engage with staff or patients.

However:

• 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 collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Staff provided good care and assessed patients’ food and drink requirements. The service met agreed response times. 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. 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.

Updated 1 August 2022

See main summary