The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the East Anglian Air Ambulance’s Norwich base outstanding, following an inspection undertaken in June.
The base, located at Helimed House at Norwich Airport, covers emergencies in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire by air and road.
It was inspected because it re-registered with CQC in May 2021 when it replaced the charity’s previous Norwich base, occupying a new building and allowing the service to extend its operation to 24-hours a day.
The inspection found an excellent service which was securing exceptional outcomes for local people and saving lives.
In addition to rating the service outstanding overall following the inspection, CQC rated it outstanding for all five of its key lines of enquiry – which ask whether it is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.
Helimed House is one of two services run by the East Anglian Air Ambulance. The other is based at Cambridge City Airport.
Zoe Robinson, CQC head of hospital inspection, said:
“We were very impressed with the East Anglian Air Ambulance’s Helimed House service.
“It was exceeding the steps we would expect it to take to ensure people receive safe and effective care and treatment, despite it being newly operational.
“This meant the service was helping deliver the best possible outcomes for people and saving lives.
“Behind this success was excellent development and implementation of policies and processes, so the service was resilient to challenges and responsive to the wide range of people’s needs it encounters.
“We also found the service benefited from a patient-focused culture, which was embedded through inspirational leadership.
“Being rated outstanding by CQC is the result of considerable hard work, so I congratulate everyone at the service who achieved this high standard for the people they serve.”
The inspection found many examples of outstanding practice, including:
- The promotion of an open culture to reporting all types of incidents. This meant patients benefited from a culture of learning, that responded when things went wrong, to provide innovative care and treatment
- Governance systems which ensured incidents were comprehensively reviewed and used to inform scenario simulation-based training. All staff were involved with the investigation of incidents to make improvements
- Research into new methods of treatment and care, new technology and new procedures that were continuing to challenge the limits and risks of what treatments were safe and possible for patients
- Engagement with a wide range of partners – including local NHS trusts, the armed forces and air ambulance services across the region and internationally – to improve services and share innovation
- Strong and inspirational leadership that consistently supported people across the service and created a patient-focused culture. Learning, research and innovation was encouraged at all levels to improve patient outcomes, promote patient safety and save lives 24-hours a day, seven days a week.