Event Medic Services Limited is a private ambulance service operated by Event Medic Services Limited. The service provides emergency and urgent care and transfer to hospital to members of the public and participants injured during events, covered by the service, in the South East of England.

The service employs one paramedic, who is also the managing director. The service has a bank of trained paramedics, ambulance technicians and nurses to staff the events. Event cover is exempt, by law, from CQC regulation. We did not inspect the services provided by Event Medic Services Limited to patients injured taking part in or attending an event. However, providers are required to register with CQC if they transport patients off the event site to hospital. Event Medic Services attended 269 events and transported six patients to hospital from an event site in the 12 months prior to inspection.

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced part of the inspection on 12 December 2017. During our inspection, we reviewed the records of the six patients transferred to hospital in the 12 months prior to inspection.

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.

Services we do not rate

We regulate independent ambulance services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• The ambulances used to transport patients to hospital were clean both inside and out. They contained personal protective equipment for staff and antibacterial wipes to clean equipment in between patient use.
• Vehicles had the appropriate safety checks, were maintained and checked daily.
• The management of medicines within the service was safe.
• The service had up to date, referenced and annually reviewed policies that ensured the staff used best clinical practice in line with current legislation.
• When assessing and treating patients the staff used current best practice guidelines issued by the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee.
• Effective systems were in place to ensure staff maintained their professional registration and were up to date with their mandatory training and clinical skills.
• Comprehensive risk assessments were completed prior to staffing an event to ensure the patients could be safely transferred to hospital if needed.
• Patient records were stored securely at all times and this ensured patient confidentiality was maintained.
• Staff felt supported by the manager of the service and said the manager was always available to discuss concerns.
• The staff liked working for the service and described an open culture where all staff were focused on providing high quality care.

However, we also found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

• The manager, who was a registered paramedic and worked for the service, had not undergone mandatory training in the twelve months prior to inspection.
• The manager lacked understanding of the Duty of Candour and had no policy relating this.
• The sharps policy did not include actions to be taken in the event of a sharps injury.
• Audits were not undertaken and therefore learning did not take place from a review of procedures and practice.
• Not all equipment on the ambulance was calibrated according to the manufactures recommendations.
• There were no governance arrangements in place to evaluate the quality of the service and improve delivery.
• There was no formal risk register in place. This meant the service’s ability to monitor their risks was limited.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should take some actions to comply with the regulations.

• The service should ensure the registered manager completes annual mandatory training. Since the inspection we have seen evidence the manager has completed mandatory training.

• The service should have a policy in line with current legislation regarding duty of candour. Since the inspection we have seen evidence the service has a policy about duty of candour.

• The sharps policy should include actions to be taken in the event of an injury. Since inspection we have seen evidence that the sharps policy includes action be taken in the event of an injury.

• Audits should be undertaken to ensure learning happens a review of procedures and practice.

• Equipment on the ambulances should be calibrated according to the manufactures recommendations.

• The manager should have governance arrangements in place to ensure they can evaluate the service.

• The manager should have a risk register which would enable the service to monitor its risk.

  Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations.

• Complete an annual appraisal with all staff.

Name of signatory

Amanda Stanford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Due to the nature of the service we were not able to talk with people who had used the service. This was because the service only provided care and treatment to people who required assistance at events such as concerts.

Events were planned so that appropriate numbers and skill mix of staff were available to meet the needs of the people who used the service.

We saw that people's needs were assessed before they were treated and that treatment was planned and delivered in a way that ensured people's health, safety and welfare.

There were appropriate procedures in place to safeguard the people who used the service.

There were appropriate infection control procedures in place to reduce the risk of any cross contamination.

Equipment was appropriately maintained so people could be confident they would receive safe care.

There were suitable quality assurance processes in place that monitored the quality of the service.

Overall we found that Event Medic Services was compliant with regulations, however we have made some comments that the provider may find useful to note.

We did not speak with any people as part of this inspection because there were no services taking place at the time of our visit.