Mars Secure Transport & Recruitment Service Ltd is operated by MARS Secure Transport and Recruitment Services Ltd. The service provides a patient transport service.

We inspected this service using our focused inspection methodology. We carried out the unannounced part of the inspection on 25 October 2018 along with a second visit to the service on 1 November 2018.

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.

The main service provided by this service was a patient transport 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?

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Health Act (1983) and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

Services we rate

We regulate independent ambulance services and we do have a legal duty to rate them. As this was a focused inspection, we have not inspected all areas and therefore have not rated the service. We have highlighted 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 service had enough skilled staff to safely carry out the booked patient transfers. The service ensured sufficient staff were allocated to each patient transfer depending on risk and need.
• The service employed competent staff and ensured all staff were trained appropriately to undertake their roles. Staff had an effective understanding of the Mental Health Act (1983) and were aware of their restrictions under this legal framework.
• Recruitment procedures were in place to ensure that all staff were appointed following a check of the suitability and experience for the role, together with pre-employment checks having been carried out.
• Vehicles and equipment were fit for purpose.
• We saw that staff were caring and respectful of patients using the service. Staff treated patients with confidentiality and dignity and sought to gain feedback from patients regarding their journey using a patient experience form.
• The service demonstrated the effort made to meet individual needs of patients using the service; such as considering the gender mix of transport staff and requesting staff that spoke a specific second language to provide translation services if needed.
• Staff told us, and we saw, that the leadership of the service was open, approachable and inclusive.
• The leaders promoted a positive staff culture and encouraged staff development to deliver the best possible care and treatment for all patients.
• Effective systems were in place to ensure patients received safe and high-quality care and treatment.

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

• On the first day of the inspection, we found that there were not effective systems in place regarding the organisation of documentation or oversight of potential risks in the service. The managers took immediate action to rectify these and when we returned on the second day of the inspection, we found significant improvements had been made.
• There was not always a systematic approach to oversight and maintenance of effective policies and procedures in the service. Whilst the provider took urgent actions to address this, further ongoing work is required to embed new processes in the service.
• Annual appraisals for staff were being introduced. Staff meetings were not always minuted.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it must take some actions to comply with the regulations and that it should make other improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve. We also issued the provider with one requirement notice that affected patient transport services. Details are at the end of the report.

Amanda Stanford

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (Central Region), on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals