A private ambulance service has been ordered to improve after an inspection raised serious concerns about staff training and reporting of incidents.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection of Thames Ambulance Service, which operates out of headquarters on Canvey.

In a report published yesterday, it said incidents such as patient deaths and accidents had not been recorded properly and staff were not properly trained.

Inspectors also spoke to patients, who said that the ambulances were often delayed and failed to arrive altogether.

The report stated: “A service lead told us about an injury to a patient in January, which was not reported as an incident at the time so only came to light when the patient’s family raised it after some time. We were told the relevant member of staff said they had no recollection of this incident.

“There was no specific training for staff in meeting the needs of patients living with learning disabilities or dementia, although staff confirmed they did regularly transport such patients.

“We had concerns about patient access and flow due to the high level of delayed journeys. Prior to this inspection, we had received 25 concerns from both patients and staff, between March and October 2017, regarding delayed transport.

“All five patients we spoke with on inspection also raised concerns about frequent delays or vehicles not arriving at all.”

In total, the service has been told it must improve in nine separate areas. It comes as the Echo revealed last year up to 40 workers at the site faced redundancy. The CQC said in its report it found much of the Canvey site was not being used anymore because of a reduction in work.

Helen Gildersleeve, of the Care Quality Commission, said it had served a warning to the service.

She said: “The provider has supplied us with a comprehensive action plan as to how they will address the concerns we have highlighted in relation to the warning notice.

“In line with our processes, we are required to ensure compliance with the warning notice within a specific timeframe, which can be through requesting further information.

“We also have been liaising with other external stakeholders such as commissioners and Healthwatch to ensure that the service is making the necessary changes to improve.”

The Echo attempted to contact the service but no one replied in time for print.