Our local ambulance trust has been rated outstanding for caring

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) were recently rated on three of their core areas by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The inspection took place during April and May 2019 and covered three of the Trust’s core services – emergency and urgent care, resilience and patient transport services.

Inspectors commented that: “Despite factors such as high service demands and frequent callers, staff strived to always provide care that was compassionate, respectful, supportive, never time-rushed and met patients’ needs.”

They also noted that the Trust’s emergency service consistently performs better than the national average on the NHS Friends and Family Test, scoring between 95% and 100%.

The Trust maintained an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’.

The Trust’s rating for Responsive was improved to ‘Good’ and it maintained its ‘Outstanding’ rating for the compassion and kindness staff show to patients and their families.

The Trust’s Resilience Team was praised for exceeding Trust targets and rated as ‘Good’ (with an area of ‘outstanding’ practice) while the Patient Transport Service improved its rating to ‘Good’.

The Trust Board recognised that there are a number of areas for improvement in the Well Led aspect, which was rated as ‘Inadequate’.

They will focus on:
• Creating a stable leadership team including recruiting a permanent Chair and Chief Executive
• Embedding governance and risk processes across the Trust
• Further improving staff engagement and the Trust culture
• Strengthening their HR function

You can read the full CQC report online.