North East Ambulance Service 'requires improvement'
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says the North East Ambulance Service has improved, but more is needed, following an inspection.
The unannounced inspection was carried out to look at emergency and urgent care (EUC) services in April and May, as part of checks on the safety and quality of healthcare.
The CQC highlighted concerns after inspections in July and September last year, rating it inadequate and issuing a warning notice.
Following this inspection, the overall rating for EUC has improved from inadequate to requires improvement.
Inspectors found that the service has started to address harassment and bullying issues, they managed safety incidents well, staff felt more confident speaking up about concerns, and information systems had improved.
However, there were still some issues with, incident reporting, further work was required with ensuring the trust meets the regulatory requirements of ensuring duty of candour is met, and the CQC says there is still a mixed picture when it comes to the overall culture within the organisation.
Sarah Dronsfield, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “When we inspected the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, we were pleased to find some improvements had been made since our previous inspection last year, when we issued a warning notice due to our significant concerns.
"We are mindful that ambulance services are operating under increased pressure and we were pleased to see caring staff, and the trust still working hard to make the necessary improvements during this time.
“At this inspection, we found there had been multiple changes at board level and through our engagement, we know they’ve taken our concerns seriously, and made considerable improvements.
"However, they need more time to fully understand all the priorities and issues the trust faces, so they can make further improvements to ensure people are receiving a high standard of care."
In response to the CQC report, Helen Ray, NEAS chief executive, said: “This report is a testament to the hard work and effort that has been made by so many people in different teams across the service on our journey of improvement.
"I want to thank everyone involved for their determination to keep patients safe and make NEAS a better place to work.
"The swift action we have taken since the first inspection has ensured we have made good progress, but given the short time since the last CQC report in February, we recognise there is still more to do to embed the changes we’ve introduced.
"The ambulance service and the NHS as a whole has faced unprecedented pressures, the likes of which we’ve never experienced, but we have acted quickly to address the CQC’s concerns and we are now beginning to see the results of this hard work.”
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