By ‘Inadequate’ Grimsby ambulance service a ‘risk to the safety of patients’
A private ambulance service has ceased operating for a second time after concerns were brought forward over infection controls and medicine handling.
Mobile Medical Cover, based in Grimsby, had its license suspended after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in May. A previous CQC visit labelled it “inadequate”. They provide NHS patient transport and medical cover for events.
Following the inspection in May, the company was found to have shown ‘poor infection prevention.
“We inspected five ambulances which we saw continued to be visibly dirty with accumulations of dust and dirt on horizontal and vertical surfaces.” the report said. Inspectors also found damage that would ‘prevent effective cleaning’ inside of the vehicle.
“Patient equipment within each vehicle continued to be visibly dirty which demonstrated that it was not regularly cleaned after each use.” The report added.
It was also said in the report that patient handling equipment had not been serviced and could “pose a risk to the safety of the patients”. The medicines were also not stored and handled adequately.
“We saw no separation of medicines with different strengths such as paediatric liquid paracetamol. This increased the risk of incorrect medicines being administered.
“Oxygen on board ambulances were less than one-quarter full, this meant there were no assurances that patients who required oxygen on a journey would be able to receive it.” the report added.
The service was rated overall as ‘inadequate’ and the CQC raised additional concerns over management understanding their responsibilities. They also did not share any outcome of incident investigations with patients, their families, carers, and even staff.
