Great North Air Ambulance Service rated outstanding

The highest possible rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Guardian of the North II
Author: Micky WelchPublished 4th Oct 2022

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) has been given the highest possible rating of ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following a recent inspection.

The CQC is an independent regulator of health and social care services in England which monitors, inspects and regulates services in every hospital, care home and healthcare provider, including air ambulance services, to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality.

Following an inspection they provide organisations with one of four overall ratings, ranging from ‘inadequate’, ‘require improvement’, ‘good’ to the highest achievement, which is ‘outstanding’.

The aim of the inspections are to make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.

POC2 and team

GNAAS’ main service is providing life-saving care to the most ill and injured people in the North East, North Yorkshire, Northumberland and Cumbria.

They are a progressive organisation which has pioneered pre-hospital care in the region and they operate two helicopters 365 days a year and also operate a night-time service in the North East and Cumbria on rapid response vehicles.

Since registering as a charity in 2002, the service has responded more than 23,500 times across the region to different incidents, with road traffic collisions being the most frequent type of incident responded to by their critical care team.

The latest techniques, equipment and drugs are constantly being evaluated to ensure the charity can provide the best care possible for their patients, and this was evident during the latest CQC inspection.

Progress House - critical care team

Andy Mawson, director of operations at GNAAS, said: “As an independent regulator of healthcare in England the CQC is fundamental to our ways of working. Their inspections are highly detailed, rigorous and designed to ensure that organisations that provide medical care do so in a way that keeps patients safe, that cares, is able to respond to the varying needs of the community and has the correct governance and leadership functions in place.

“To have been awarded ‘Outstanding’ is a huge achievement. Whilst our teams responding by helicopter and rapid response vehicle are the most visible part of our service, and the care that we deliver the most important to our communities, there is a massive workload behind the scenes to make our service truly ‘Outstanding’.

“There is an incredible team of people that have made this happen. Every single member of our team has allowed us to achieve the highest rating of care. But it doesn't end there.

“Every single person that has ever supported our cause has enabled this. From our lottery players to our corporate partners, our donors to our legacies, our runners to our communities. This is your success too so we just want to say thank you and we will continue to make you proud.”

Team with Angel of the North

David Stockton, chief executive officer at GNAAS, added: “This is an incredible achievement in any healthcare environment, but in a complex air ambulance service it is amazing.

“Credit has to go to the whole team in Operations who have put an unbelievable effort into the submission for the CQC, and the upholding of exacting standards. It is absolutely deserved, and hard earned, but validates the incredible work of our teams every day.”

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