A privately-run ambulance provider which holds NHS contracts in the North East is fighting the Care Quality Commission in the courts following an "inadequate" inspection report.
Specialist Medical Transport - North (SMT) - based on the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate in North Shields - has already successfully challenged an urgent CQC order at a tribunal. The regulator had imposed an immediate restriction on its operations, which effectively forced it to stop work, in January. Now, following publication of an inspection report, it has been placed into special measures.
But SMT-North bosses have branded the CQC's behaviour as "unacceptable" and said the report was "deeply flawed and based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the service we provide". At a tribunal hearing in March, SMT's appeal was upheld, and in a ruling on behalf of the panel Judge Siobhan Goodrich was critical of the regulator's actions. Despite this, the CQC published its report in full last week, and now SMT bosses have said they plan to take further action.
