South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has
today (Tuesday, 15 March 2016) published the
independent review undertaken by Deloitte into its Red 3/Green
5 Pilot.

This review looked specifically at the decision-making processes
and governance around the implementation of the pilot. 

It did not look at the impact of the pilot on patients (i.e.
whether patients’ conditions were worsened or treated more
effectively than usual as a result of the pilot), which is subject
to a separate, clinically-led independent review, due to be
concluded by June 2016.

The Trust welcomes and accepts the findings of the review in
full.  It recognises that the governance surrounding the pilot
was inadequate, and has already started to make serious changes to
the way matters of governance are managed and dealt with to make
sure lessons are learnt and a lapse in governance of this sort does
not happen again.

A joint recovery plan is being agreed with the Trust’s
commissioners and Monitor, its national regulator, to address
concerns.

We will publish the full findings of the independent patient
impact review as soon as it is complete.

However, in the preliminary work to date, no clear indications
of patient harm have been identified. Indeed, the review has
identified a number of seriously-ill patients who received an
improved response, due to earlier clinical intervention, as a
consequence of the pilot.

The Trust Chair, Tony Thorne, has today confirmed his
resignation, having informed Monitor in December of his intention
to resign once there was a new Chair in place.  SECAmb would
like to thank Tony for his commitment and clear direction to the
Trust during the past four and a half years.

The Trust is pleased to announce that it is appointing Sir Peter
Dixon as the Interim Chair, at Monitor’s request and is looking
forward to working with him. The process and timetable for
appointing a permanent Chair will be agreed in line with
legislation and the Trust’s constitution.

SECAmb Chief Executive Paul Sutton is currently taking
mutually-agreed leave of absence, while the Trust determines the
appropriate actions to take.

We are also making available today a summary of the
Independent Review, undertaken by RSM the Trust’s internal
auditors, at the Trust’s request, into Ambulance Quality
Indicators. .

SECAmb would like to take this opportunity to reassure members
of the public that the Trust and its staff are, and always have
been, committed to delivering a high level of patient care and
service. Staff from across the Trust are, as ever, working hard to
provide a safe and highly-skilled level of professional care, which
patients, quite rightly expect to receive.