We visited Focus Medical Services in Exeter where the mobile services were managed from. We were not able to speak to patients directly but we looked at feedback obtained from 224 patients treated in various hospitals. The results seen showed that patients reported high levels of satisfaction with service. One patient described the treatment as “a five star service”, another said “staff were helpful” and a third patient said “I felt at ease”.

We spoke with the registered manager, a director of the company and five staff who worked for the company to ask them about the care and treatment provided. We looked at risk assessments, records of patient treatments, staff recruitment, training and appraisal records.

We found staff were appropriately trained and skilled to provide the Lithotripsy (a non surgical treatment for kidney stones using ultrasound) offered. However, we identified some risks related to moving and handling associated with moving the equipment in and out of transport vehicles. This was because the provider could not demonstrate that adequate moving and handling risks assessments and staff training were undertaken by staff appropriately qualified to do so. This meant the provider could not be assured that staff were protected from risks associated with moving and handling equipment. We also identified other gaps in the identification and provision of staff training.

The provider was compliant with four of the six standards we inspected.