Kent Central Ambulance Service Ltd is operated by Kent Central Ambulance Service Ltd. The service provides emergency and urgent care and patient transport services.
We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out an unannounced inspection on 28 May 2019, along with a patient telephone interview on 29 May 2019.
This was the service’s first inspection since registration.
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.
NHS non-emergency patient transport services help people access healthcare in England. It is free at the point of use for patients who meet certain medical criteria and are unable to use public or other transport. This service was subcontracted to provide support to primary contract holders that supply this service to the people in Maidstone and the surrounding area including parts of London.
The service also provides high dependency transfers for patients travelling between hospitals. This is the only aspect of the service that is provided under the emergency and urgent care section.
The main service provided by this service was patient transport services. Where our findings on patient transport services – for example, management arrangements – also apply to other services, we do not repeat the information but cross-refer to the patient transport services core service.
We rated it as Good overall because:
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The service ensured that only staff that had completed mandatory training could be involved in patient care.
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The service adapted to the changes in infection control practice for several contract holders.
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The service had high standards of cleanliness and had invested in an external service to monitor their cleaning performance.
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The service had effective systems to keep their equipment maintained.
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The service kept patient records up to date and secure.
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Patient feedback was positive about the services staff being courteous and caring.
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Stakeholders reported the services as very professional and working together for service improvement.
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Staff reported the leadership team were very open and approachable. Also, that they felt supported in their roles by their managers.
However,
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The service did not record investigation outcomes for all incidents or document reasons for not having investigation outcomes.
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The service was not reporting concerns of abuse directly to the local authorities but changed their practice immediately on being told this was their responsibility.
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The service had limited support for patients who required additional support with communication.
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Crews had limited awareness of the service’s vision and strategy.
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The service did not have a structured approach to governance.
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 and emergency and urgent care services. Details are at the end of the report.
Dr Nigel Acheson
Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (London and South)