Archived: Quad Medical Limited

Updated 9 November 2017

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Transport services, triage and medical advice provided remotely; Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

It was registered with CQC in April 2012 and has had the current registered manager, who is also the managing director, in post since that time.

Quad Medical Limited is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of service and these are set out in schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

Quad Medical Limited provides services to patients taking part in or attending a sport or cultural event. These types of arrangements are exempt by law from CQC regulation. Therefore, the services provided to patients taking part in or attending a sport or cultural event were not inspected.

During the inspection, we visited the provider’s home address where the service operated from a dedicated office. We spoke with 13 staff, including members of the management team, clinical lead, nurses and registered paramedics. We spoke with two patients and an event organiser. During our inspection, we reviewed 32 sets of patient record forms.

Quad Medical Limited fulfilled a number of contracts to provide medical and first aid support at local and national events which attracted crowds greater than 5,000 people. At the time of our inspection, the provider utilised one equipped vehicle for the purpose of the regulated activity which was used to convey patients to hospital as required.

There were no special reviews or investigations of the service ongoing by the CQC at any time during the 12 months before this inspection. This was the service’s first inspection since registration with CQC, which found that the service was meeting all standards of quality and safety it was inspected against.

Updated 9 November 2017

Quad Medical Limited is operated by Paul Saddington Managing Director, who is also the registered manager. The service provides a patient transport service. We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology.

We carried out an announced inspection on 11 and 12 July 2017, along with an announced inspection at an event on 22 July 2017.

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.

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 provider had an incident reporting system which was regularly reviewed and updated. Staff were familiar with it and knew how to report an incident; there was evidence of learning from incidents.
• Medical equipment was regularly checked and maintained and all medications, including paramedic drug packs, were in date.
• The provider had one ambulance equipped to convey patients to a local accident and emergency department as required.
• A robust plan and risk assessment was circulated to all staff in advance of an event. Staff were committed to providing the best quality care to patients. Staff demonstrated a caring and compassionate nature as well as being proud of their role.
• Management meetings included a review of all incidents on the incident reporting system.
• There was a named duty manager available at all times to provide support and guidance to staff.
• Staff told us they felt very well supported by all members of the management team.
• There was a secure staff social media group and a staff portal accessible to all staff.

We told the provider that they MUST take following actions to meet the regulations:

• The provider must ensure all staff receive appropriate safeguarding training appropriate to their role.
• The provider must ensure appropriate recruitment checks are carried out for all persons employed or appointed for the purposes of a regulated activity. This includes enhanced Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) checks.
• The provider must ensure that medicines are managed appropriately. This includes ensuring suitable storage and that there is a way in which to evidence a medicines supply chain.
• The provider must ensure that patients’ records are appropriate and discharge summaries are completed.

We also said the provider SHOULD:

• The provider should ensure that staff are regularly appraised.
• The provider should ensure that staff competency to use medical equipment is documented.
• The provider should ensure all staff training is evidenced.

Professor Edward Baker

Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Updated 9 November 2017

We have not provided a rating for this service.

We regulate patient transport services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them when they are provided as a single specialty service. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

Where events are mentioned in the report we refer to transport of patients from events to hospital and not the care of patients at events.