CQC tells ambulance trust to make improvements

A Care Quality Commission investigation has resulted in the issuing of a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating to South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

Despite services being rated 'Outstanding' for caring, and 'Good' for being responsive, the trust was rated 'Requires Improvement' for whether its services were safe, effective and well-led.

The trust provides emergency medical services to a population of around 5.3 million people, in an area served by 18 acute hospital trusts.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, chief inspector of hospitals, said: “I know that South Western Ambulance Service is at the forefront of national improvements in the ambulance service, exploring better ways to deal with emergency calls so that people get the attention they need, in the right place and at the right time.

“However we found some variation in quality across the services we inspected. There were significant gaps in mandatory training and we found the levels of staffing were not always sufficient to provide relief when staff were training, or on leave.

“I am concerned that not all staff were reporting incidents, particularly when they were verbally abused by callers. Some felt that they did not have time to report all incidents, so losing the chance to learn from them and take appropriate action in future.

“During the inspection we identified a number of areas for improvement which we have passed on to the trust and to local commissioners.”