Positive CQC feedback

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) received glowing feedback from patients following a wide-reaching independent inspection undertaken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January.

The positive feedback from patients formed part of a review of the Trust’s services to establish whether it meets key government standards of quality and safety.

The report highlighted that people who had used the service said that ambulance crews were polite and treated them with respect.

One patient surveyed said: “Yes they were respectful, they were calm and reassuring."

Inspectors for the CQC, the independent regulator of all social and health care services in England, spent three days visiting ambulance stations, offices and A&E departments speaking to patients, frontline staff and managers.

The Compliance Review, which was published on Wednesday, 14 March, found that SECAmb was meeting all of the essential standards of quality and safety and made some suggestions for improvement in only two areas.

Chief Executive, Paul Sutton said: “It is always very pleasing to learn that the commitment and dedication that is shown and expressed by our staff when treating patients has been validated in such a positive way through the words and experiences of our patients.

“We are not complacent and of course there are always improvements that can be made. We will be taking swift action to address the concerns which were raised in two areas of this review.”

The two areas where the CQC has suggested that improvements should be made are around improving training records to ensure training for all staff is recorded accurately and is up to date, and that all staff regularly receive safe-guarding training.