Chief Inspector of Hospitals asks people to tell him about the care provided by South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals is inviting members of the public to tell his inspectors what they think of the services provided by South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Their views and experiences will help inspectors decide what to look at when they inspect the ambulance trust next month.

The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is the second of England’s 10 ambulance service trusts to be inspected under radical changes which have been introduced by the Care Quality Commission. It covers all of the south central area including the counties of Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxford, serving a population of about 4 million people living within its 3,500 square miles.

CQC’s formal inspection of the trust will start on Monday 8 September.

Inspectors will be visiting emergency operations centres where 999 calls are received, interviewing paramedics and other members of staff about the work they do as well as talking to other organisations and agencies that work closely with the such as the Police and Fire Services.

The Chief Inspector, Professor Sir Mike Richards, announced last year that he will lead significantly larger inspection teams than before, headed up by clinical and other experts including trained members of the public.

To ensure the views of patients and the local community are properly heard, we are encouraging people to contact us to tell the team about their experiences of care and to say where they would like to see improvements made in the future.

Anyone who wishes to give their views to the inspection team can do this in a number of ways for people to comment on the service.

• Online
• By email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk
• By letter: CQC, City gate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA
• By phone: 03000 61 61 61

Sir Mike said:

"Last year, NHS ambulance services received over 9 million 999 calls resulting in the majority of patients being taken to an emergency department or directly admitted to a specialist department such as a stroke or coronary unit. At the same time nearly 2 million people were able to be treated at home thanks to the skills of ambulance staff.

“Ambulance services are also responsible for helping to care for over 5 million patient transport service journeys each year for people who need help attending non- emergency pre planned appointments. “We need to make sure that ambulance services are safe, caring, responsive, effective and well led. This inspection will provide people with a clear picture of the quality of their local ambulance service, exposing poor or mediocre service if its exists as well as highlighting where the trust provides good and excellent services.

“If you have recently needed to call out an ambulance in emergency, or have experience of using the service – we would like to hear from you.”