England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the quality of services provided by the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust as Good following an inspection in October 2018.
The trust was rated Good in all key questions - safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
On this inspection CQC looked at two core services – the emergency operations centre and the 111 service. Inspectors also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: Is the trust well led?
When inspectors looked at overall performance they found the trust was above average against other NHS ambulance trusts in five of the seven performance measures introduced by NHS England in November 2017.
Inspectors noted some good areas of practice, including:
- The trust used a demand forecasting tool to identify which resources would be required on which shifts to meet demand. This was reviewed during the inspection and seen to be accurate
- The Trust won the ‘enhancing patient dignity’ category for its end of life services in the Nursing Times Awards 2017. The end of life service provided a responsive and timely patient transport across the north-east region for patients with palliative/end of life care needs, enabling them to be cared for and die in the place of their choice
The Care Quality Commission has informed NEAS of areas where they must improve including:
- The trust must have effective systems in place to achieve the 95% target for staff appraisal compliance
Professor Ted Baker, CQC, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said:
“Since their last inspection, The North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust,
has worked hard to maintain its rating.
“The organisation operates an emergency operations centre (EOC) that is run as a virtual centre currently across two locations - Bernicia House, Riverside Newburn and Russell House at Hebburn - and it functions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We rated this service as Good.
“Inspectors could see that there were sufficient staff trained to deal with 999 and 111 calls and that they could switch between calls dependent on the demand and clinical need. “When we monitored calls in the emergency operations centres, we found that all the staff involved were calm, professional and considerate of patient’s needs. I note the steps the trust has taken to deal with instances of high demand.
“We will return at a later date to check on the further progress the trust has made.
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Manager David Fryer 07754 438750 or, for media enquiries, call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours.
Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team herehttp://www.cqc.org.uk/media/our-media-office (Please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters).
For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61