East of England Ambulance rated 'requires improvement' again by CQC
While its rating remains the same the healthcare inspectors say 'marked improvements' have been made
Last updated 13th Jul 2022
The East of England Ambulance Service has been rated 'requires improvement' again by the Care Quality Commission, following an inspection in April and May.
Although its rating remains the same following this examination, the CQC say improvements have been made in leadership and safeguarding measures, among other areas.
The trust has been rated good for being caring, but still requires improvement for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led.
Inspectors found staff also knew how to protect patients from abuse, but uptake of safeguarding training remained low.
It therefore deemed that more action is needed to address these issues to justify an overall rating change- despite senior leaders have a good understanding where there we're shortfalls.
"The trust’s improvements are encouraging, and we have told it where it must do more"
Zoe Robinson is the CQC’s head of hospital inspection:
“While there have been improvements at the East of England Ambulance Service, there is still work to do.
“Staff shortages remained and patient waiting times were unacceptable. Also, the time it took ambulances to reach people was well below national standards, and welfare calls to those waiting a long time weren’t always made.
“These issues increased the risk to which people were exposed.
“We also found staff didn’t always feel respected, supported or valued. More work is needed to develop staff, enable them to innovate and bring about positive change within the service.
“However, the trust was working towards promoting an open culture, where staff could raise issues or give feedback without fear of any comeback.
“We also found staff were committed to continually learning and improving services.
“The trust’s improvements are encouraging, and we have told it where it must do more.
“We continue to monitor the trust closely, including through future inspections, to assess whether it has embedded and sustained its progress.”
What has the EEAST's response to all this been?
Tom Abell is chief executive officer of EEAST:
“I am pleased the CQC has recognised that hard work of our people under significant pressure – and that we have made marked improvements on what we have needed to address from previous inspections, which highlighted significant issues with our culture that left staff feeling unable to raise concerns.
“We have focussed on providing our people with a safe and supportive workplace and there are early indicators this is beginning to have a positive impact – making significant progress to tackle bullying and harassment.
“However, we recognise that this is only the first step in our work to improve our culture and our service and we have a 3-5 year plan in place to fully address all of the challenges we face. The CQC rightly identified several areas for improvement that we are continuing to address, including improving staff morale and access to training, the impact of the Trust being on heightened surge levels for extended periods of time, and the challenges of staffing our ambulance operations centres.
“We have taken this feedback very seriously and will continue to work hard to address these issues.”