Rapid Response Medical Group has debunked the idea that automated licence checking increases costs and labour after switching to using the DAVIS platform from Licence Check.
One of the UK’s leading emergency ambulance services, Rapid Response supplies private clients, the NHS and other ambulance services with high dependency and emergency transport, and organ and blood rapid transport.
It currently handles some 20,000 emergency calls a month and runs a fleet of 58 medical vehicles, mainly specially adapted Renault Masters, 11 cars and two vans, but also has a further 55 new vehicles on order to cope with the growing demand.
Prior to appointing Licence Check, the service relied on manual licence checking systems but said it found these too time-consuming, labour-intensive, costly and prone to error.
Mitchell Johnson, director of ambulance and clinical services, affirmed: “The idea that manual licence checking systems are cost- and labour-saving is a total misconception. We have switched from a manual system to the DAVIS platform and have been extremely happy with it.
“We like its ease of use, the fact that it’s fully automated and we can set our own risk policy within the system. It’s also cost-effective and labour saving, while another USP is that we receive great support and help from Licence Check staff, which is free of charge as it’s all part of the package. We also like the daily email alerts which are part of the exception reporting dashboard to highlight areas where we need to take management action.”
Based on its own findings, Rapid Response says it doesn’t hesitate to recommend DAVIS to clients such as NHS Trusts.
“We believe it’s a gold standard way of working,” Johnson added. “We are audited by the CQC (Care Quality Commission) and the NHS on a regular basis to ensure we meet compliance standards, so we wanted a robust driver licence checking system that we could rely on, and DAVIS has provided exactly that.”
Licence Check managing director Keith Allen also commented, saying: “Rapid Response is seeing a number of real benefits through the use of DAVIS to automate its driving licence checking processes and manage its driving risk.
“Given the nature of its business with a high number of emergency calls, occupational driving obviously poses one of the highest risks to the service, so it makes perfect sense to go down a fully automated route,” he finished.
