ERS Medical Midlands

Updated 7 April 2021

ERS Medical Midlands is an independent ambulance service in Nottinghamshire and Bassetlaw operated by ERS Transition Ltd. ERS Transition Ltd took over the services and became the registered provider with CQC in December 2019. The service is registered to provide; transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service has four main transport bases these are: Ashville, Quorn Road, Mansfield and Carlton Forest.

The service currently employs about 190 staff and has 80 vehicles available, 71 vehicles capable of carrying seated or stretchered patients and 9 modified cars. From January 2020 to January 2021 the service averaged 14380 journeys a month.

The current registered manager for this service has been in post since July 2020.

We inspected this service using our next phase inspection methodology. We carried out a short notice announced inspection on 18 February 2021. We conducted this inspection due to receiving concerns about the service. We have not previously inspected this service.

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? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Updated 7 April 2021

We rated this service 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 collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Staff provided good care and treatment. The service generally 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 and 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.
• 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:

• Patients reported services did not always run on time and were not always informed when there were delays.
• There was not a clear process for the management of dirty linen/disposables.

Updated 7 April 2021