“South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) recently agreed to
formal collaborative working with its neighbouring ambulance
service, South Central Ambulance Service, (SCAS).
 
“In a move to support improvements and deliver better outcomes for
patients, more expertise and best practice will be shared between
the two foundation trusts.
 
“The closer working follows similar approaches elsewhere in the
country and is in line with the Carter Review, published in
February this year, in which it is set out that procedures should
be standardised and neighbouring NHS trusts should work more
closely to save money and improve care.
 
“The work will include an initial focus on areas identified as
requiring urgent attention following SECAmb’s recent CQC
inspection. Both trusts will explore further opportunities to work
together to reduce costs, accelerate improvements and maintain high
quality services for patients.
 
Agreed by mutual consent by both organisations’ Boards, full
accountability for all decisions will remain with the two separate
unitary statutory boards.”
 
SECAmb Acting Chief Executive Geraint Davies said: “As we have seen
elsewhere in the ambulance sector, there has been a move to share
best practices and work more collaboratively in key areas. I’m
extremely proud of the work which is already taking place within
SECAmb to rise to the challenges we face as an organisation,
address the issues highlighted in our recent CQC inspection and
provide our patients with the level of service they deserve.
 
“However, it’s vital that we use every means at our disposal to
achieve our aims. This is why we’ve agreed to this collaborative
approach to see where we can better share knowledge. I’m keen that
we see where we can share some of our excellent work with our
colleagues at South Central and equally tap into what they do
best.”