North East Ambulance Service rated 'good' by inspectors
More than 50 inspectors assessed 999 emergency operations and deemed the service as good.
North East Ambulance staff have been praised for their passion and enthusiasm as the service is rated as 'good' by inspectors.
England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the service following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of its wide range of services earlier this year.
The team of more than 50 inspectors assessed the 999 emergency operations centre, urgent and emergency care services; patient transport services; emergency planning and resilience; and NHS111.
The CQC found a culture of passion and enthusiasm with a focus on the patient.
NEAS Chief Executive Yvonne Ormston said: “I am delighted that our service has been rated as ‘Good’ overall. This is fabulous news for our organisation and testament to the care and professionalism that all of our staff dedicate to our patients and service.
"Our workforce is dedicated to providing the best possible patient care, often in incredibly difficult circumstances and I am pleased on their behalf that this has been recognised.
“More than 2.7 million people across the North East rely on our services and the CQC has recognised the pivotal role we are playing in the development of urgent and emergency care services in our community.”
It’s after we revealed exclusively in July that More than 50 days’ worth of ambulance time was wasted queuing outside our region's A&E departments in a single month.
March this year was the busiest with paramedics spending 477 hours outside the new hospital at Cramlington.
The CQC report also highlighted that ambulance performance standards were not being achieved and that NEAS had a shortage of paramedics.
Mrs Ormston added: “While we have demonstrated that our service is good for patients, we know there are areas we need to improve. We are doing everything possible to recruit paramedics and we are working with NHS commissioners and hospitals to relieve the pressures of handover delays.
“These are national issues affecting all ambulance services, but the CQC rating is an encouraging acknowledgement that we are doing everything possible to address these issues.”