Ambulance service needs improvement

CQC raises a number of issues with East of England Ambulance Service

The East of England Ambulance Service has been told it ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has told East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust that it must make improvements following an inspection by the CQC.

CQC’s inspection looked at three services: Emergency Operations Centres, Urgent and Emergency Care including the Hazardous Area Response Team and Patient Transport Services.

Heidi Smoult, Deputy Chief I nspector of Hospitals in CQC’s central region, said: “Our inspectors found that a number of improvements were needed at East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. All staff were passionate about providing the best possible service to patients. We consistently observed staff to be caring and compassionate and concerned for the welfare of patients. However, they also openly recognised they faced challenges. Somestaffreported regularly working more hours than their shift allocation which had a negative impact on morale. Our main concernwaswhetherservices were protecting people from the risk of avoidable harm. The trust was under significant pressure and was failing to meet performance standards and targets for response to emergency calls.”

Mrs Smoult said delays at hospital emergency departments also caused problems, andinspectors werenotgiven assurancesoverstafftraining.

She added: “There were several areas we were impressed by. We saw many examplesofstaffacting with the utmost professionalism and supporting patients in the most trying of circumstances to provide positive outcomes. The trust should be proud of its Outstanding rating for being caring.”

Robert Morton Chief Executive at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: “We have made huge steps forward over the last year and this progress is reflected in the report. We know we have more work to do, to move us from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’, and we have in place a plan to address the points raised by the CQC.”

Mr Morton said he was proud of his staff, as the trust was rated as ‘outstanding’ for providing care to patients.

Ambulance staff showed care for patients