Good rating retained by London Ambulance Service

London Ambulance Service has been rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection of its services and leadership towards the end of last year.

The CQC rated the service Good for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led, and Requires Improvement for being safe, following the inspection in September 2019. Inspectors visited the Urgent and Emergency Care (U&EC) and the Emergency operations Centres (EOC), following possible safety concerns.

Overall there were enough front-line ambulance staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in the key skills needed for their role and most staff understood how to protect patients from abuse and managed their safety well.

The inspection means that the Trust maintains the positive overall rating published in May 2018 when London Ambulance Service came out of the special measures imposed towards the end of 2015. However, the latest inspection noted a number of areas for improvement, including additional security around vehicles and ambulance stations, and further improving the restocking of equipment and checking of expiry dates on medicines.

Garrett Emmerson, chief executive of the London Ambulance Service, said: “We are pleased the CQC recognises our overall level of ‘good’ performance and also found areas of outstanding practice in its recent inspection. To maintain this rating as we drive forward ambitious change to improve the care we provide in the capital in the coming years, and at a time of record demand for 999 and 111-integrated urgent care services is testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff and senior leadership team.

“As the Chief Inspector of Hospitals also recognises, serving the capital brings additional pressures such as dealing with incidents like the recent terrorist attack at London Bridge. We will work to meet these challenges and continue to make improvements, including those shared with the CQC and referenced in their report, to ensure we can provide outstanding care to our patients.”

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This story was first published in digitalhealth.net

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