CQC rates ERS Medical midlands as “good”
The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, has rated ERS Medical’s Midlands site as “good” following an inspection in February 2021.
The CQC inspected ERS Medical’s Midlands site using their next phase inspection methodology. To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, they ask five questions of all services: Are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs, and well-led. Where they have a legal duty to do so they rate a service’s performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. Throughout the inspection, the CQC took account of what people told them and how ERS Medical understands and complies with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
As a health and social care transport provider, ERS Medical has 25 sites nationally, with four main transport bases in the Midlands: Ashville, Quorn Road, Mansfield and Carlton Forest (Worksop). Employing nearly 200 staff and running over 80 vehicles, the region averages just under 15,000 patient journeys a month.
Kelly Stoneman, Senior Operations Manager for ERS Medical in the Midlands, says: “We’ve been providing patient transport services to our clients and patients locally since December 2019. Our team in the Midlands strives on continuous improvement, listening to feedback from patients and NHS clients and delivering a high-quality service – behaviours aligned with ERS Medical’s national operations. This rating reflects what we do on a daily basis and I’m very proud of my team who deliver a great service to patients in the region.”
Highlights from the CQC’s inspection of ERS Medical Midlands include (taken from the published report on the CQC’s website):
• Staff provided good care and treatment.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity and took account of their individual needs.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback.
• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe.
• The service controlled infection risk well.
• Staff felt respected, supported and valued.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills.
The full report can be viewed on the CQC’s website.
