A PRIVATE Bournemouth ambulance service has been rated inadequate after the Care Quality Commission found staff weren’t competent and systems weren’t in place to administer medicines safely.

Paramed Ambulance Service, which was founded in 2018, was rated by the CQC which found it was inadequate in the safe category, effective category and well-led category, and 'requires improvement' in the responsive to people’s needs category.

The report said: “Staff did not receive training on how to recognise if patients deteriorated during the ambulance journey. The service did not make sure staff were competent for their roles.

“Standards of cleanliness were not maintained. The maintenance and use of equipment did not keep people safe and ambulance safety was compromised.

“The service did not have enough staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment.

“The manager did not complete all necessary employment checks to make sure staff were of good character, competent and skilled to meet the needs of patients transported by the service.”

Rating the service’s emergency and urgent care, the CQC found staff did not receive effective training in safety systems, and there were not effective systems to ensure medicines were prescribed and administered safely.

It said: “The registered manager did not have all the skills, knowledge and experience needed to run the service safely and effectively.

“Staff did not receive training on how to recognise if patients deteriorated during the ambulance journey.

“There was no policy, protocol or standard operating procedure to provide information and guidance to staff about actions to take if a patient deteriorated during the journey in the ambulance.”

Its patient transport services were also inadequate, with the CQC finding the service did not always control infection risks.

In addition, there were no records of a deep clean after the service transferred a patient who was positive for Covid-19.

“We were not assured the correct cleaning solutions were used as the registered manager was unaware there were different solutions and strength of solutions and cleaning sprays and wipes,” the report said.

“We saw that one cleaning product, kept in an overhead compartment with other supplies, had leaked and contaminated everything within.”

Assessing the vehicle, the CQC said: “The seatbelts on the patient seat and the seat to the rear of the stretcher were partially broken and exposed wires were visible and posed a risk to safety. The lap belt on the carry chair was torn and could fail in use.

“The hydraulic lift on the vehicle was broken and the step which was used to enter the ambulance was unstable and corroded. The rear light of the ambulance was broken and had sharp exposed edges.

“The ambulance and equipment were not of a standard to facilitate these journeys safely.”

The CQC gave the service a number of areas it needed to improve, including giving staff mandatory training, ensuring they have all the relevant skills, ensure patients are risk assessed and ensure the ambulance is maintained.

It also said staff must be trained to administer medicines safely, including medical gasses.

Paramed Ambulance Service was contacted for comment.