The Care Quality Commission
  • Ambulance service

Archived: British Red Cross Worcester

Bradbury Court, Berkeley Business Park, Wainwright Road, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR4 9GY (01905) 450400

Provided and run by:
British Red Cross Society

All Inspections

14 January 2014

During a routine inspection

During our inspection we spoke with four members of full time staff, the registered manager and the operations Director. Some staff members were also volunteers who provided first aid and care support in their own time. We also spoke with three people who had used the service recently and looked at records and 13 patient record forms.

People who had used the service spoke positively about it. One person said: 'They did their very best and I was extremely happy. They were very kind and reassuring.' Another person said: 'They were on the ball, I was very grateful.'

People had been involved in the care and had been able to make choices about their treatment. Their human rights and dignity had been respected. We found that appropriate care and treatment had been planned and when necessary medical professionals had been contacted.

The provider had taken reasonable steps to ensure staff and volunteers had received appropriate training for their roles. Employed staff told us that they felt supported by their managers and had been given opportunities for development. Records had been maintained appropriately and stored securely. However, we found that training records did not always accurately record when staff and volunteers had received training.

1 March 2013

During a routine inspection

We visited the branch headquarters and spoke with staff and the registered manager. We spoke on the telephone with the relative of a person who had used the provider's patient transport service. We also spoke on the telephone with three event organisers who had contracted with British Red Cross Worcester and two members of the volunteer ambulance crew.

The relative we spoke with was complimentary about the service provided and told us, 'You need a good service and we got it. They were very efficient and worked well.'

The event organisers we spoke with were happy with the provider. One told us, 'We think they're absolutely great. We couldn't run our events without them.' Another said, 'We have been quite contented to ask for them again. We have not had any complaints about them.'

We found that systems were in place to ensure that volunteers gained appropriate consent from people before providing care or treatment.

We looked at records and found these contained detailed information about the care and treatment received by people.

We found that people who used the service were protected from the risk of abuse and the risk of infection.

People were cared for, or supported by, suitably qualified, skilled and experienced volunteers.

The provider had systems in place to regularly assess and monitor the quality of service that people received.

This report contains a reference to two registered managers, one of whom has deregistered since the inspection.