South East Coast Ambulance Service rated requires improvement
Inspectors found care quality had declined following an increase in staff sickness and delays in hospital handovers
South East Coast Ambulance Service – which operates across Sussex – has been rated requires improvement following two inspections in August.
The trust’s previous rating was good overall, but inspectors found the quality of care had declined after an increase in staff sickness and delays in handovers from partner organisations.
Data shows from February to July this year, the overall sickness rate for staff working in urgent and emergency care was just over 10 per cent.
Deanna Westwood, CQC’s network director, said: “We did have other more specific concerns that we have told leaders about. For example, they need to have better oversight on how often restraint was used and if it was done safely. Although staff knew what incidents to report and how to report them, they weren’t always reporting when somebody had been restrained.
“We also spoke with staff within the resilience team, who were frustrated and didn’t feel respected, valued or supported. There was low morale within the service and staff told us they didn’t feel appreciated by management at a senior level.”
But the report did claim leaders were very aware of the concerns in relation to performance and said it was encouraging to see they have showed ‘a real sense of urgency in prioritising the issues’.
The ratings for how safe, effective and responsive the trust is has moved from good to requires improvement but caring remains rated as good.
SECAmb has committed itself to making those improvements and has outlined a plan.
The service’s Interim Chief Executive, Siobhan Melia, was appointed in July this year.
She said: “I am really pleased that the excellent care provided by our staff has once again been recognised and rated as ‘Good’ by the CQC, despite the huge pressures they face every day. I am very proud of the high-quality care and compassion provided by our staff."
She added: “We have already taken concerns around our culture and leadership extremely seriously and we are committed to making further improvements to ensure we improve our response to patients and the working lives of our staff.
“I know that there is much to do to get the Trust to where it needs to be and we are working closely with staff as well as partners both regionally and nationally to make the necessary improvements highlighted in the report.”
Inspectors did flag that the South East is among areas that has a ‘gridlocked’ health and social care system – and recognised the trust is unable to solve all of its issues alone.