Improvement journey continues for East of England ambulance

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been told it must continue to make improvements following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Following an inspection which took place in April and May this year, the ambulance trust was rated as Requires Improvement overall as well as for whether its services were safe and effective. Whilst it is now rated as Good for whether its services are responsive and remains rated Outstanding for whether its services were caring, the CQC says that services being well-led are Inadequate.

While the trust’s overall rating has remain unchanged since CQC’s previous inspection in March 2018, the rating for whether services are well-led has changed from Requires Improvement to Inadequate and its rating for whether services are responsive has changed from Requires Improvement to Good.

The trust has been told it must make a number of improvements including: ensuring that systems and processes to safely administer, store, prescribe and medicines are consistently applied across the trust; ensuring that it improves response times in emergency and urgent care and patient transport services; ensuring that governance and risk management processes are embedded in all areas; ensuring that processes in place for appraisals and supervision are consistently applied and demonstrate that staff are competent for their roles; and ensuring that it improves recruitment and retention to have enough staff to provide a safe and responsive patient transport service.

Nigel Beverley, interim chair of the trust, said: “I am pleased to have joined EEAST at such an important stage in its improvement journey. There has been turnover within the Trust Board in the last few months. However, we are strengthening the leadership and rebuilding the senior team over the next 12 months.”