Care Quality Commission report slates South Central Ambulance Service over patient and staff care

THE main ambulance service covering the New Forest has been warned it must do more to ensure patient safety after it was rated ‘inadequate’ in a damning inspection report.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) downgraded South Central Ambulance Service’s (SCAS) ‘good’ rating after finding continuing problems with the trust’s “out of touch” governance.

The service, which provides emergency cover to Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire was also slated for leaving patients on ambulances outside A&E departments for hours rather than taking them to quieter hospitals.

Inspectors also raised concerns about “frequent and prolonged delays” in reaching people which resulted in “poor outcomes for some”.

CQC south network director Deanna Westwood said: “We initially carried out this inspection in response to concerns about the quality of the service trust’s governance and training.

“As the inspection progressed we identified further issues, particularly around shared learning from serious incidents and allegations against staff not being appropriately addressed.

“We also found safeguarding wasn’t being given the priority it deserved – something we had already identified to the trust in November 2021.”

She added: “While staff were doing their very best to provide safe care to patients and support each other, leaders sometimes appeared out of touch and were not fully sighted on issues that impacted the overall effectiveness of the care they were providing.”

The CQC report said a whistleblower in the ambulance service raised concerns about “negative experiences... especially to student paramedics” but there has been no apparent action from the trust’s leaders.

The report said the trust board’s “extreme positivity” could feel “dismissive” of the reality to frontline staff, with one stating there was a “culture of problems being swept under the rug”.

It said: “Staff described a dismissive attitude from trust leaders when they raised concerns and also told us people who raised concerns were treated badly as a result, and it was evident that the trust did not adhere to its own policy for whistleblowers.”

The report said ambulances often have to wait outside emergency departments for several hours before patients are admitted.

But the report added there was “no evidence of action being considered by the trust to manage this risk”, such as taking patients to quieter hospitals.

In response, SCAS chief executive Will Hancock said: “The CQC has highlighted some serious concerns which we must, and will, fix as a matter of urgency.

“I want to reassure everyone that we have already taken swift action, but I recognise we have more to do. Providing the best possible care to all our patients remains our top priority.

“We have an extensive improvement plan and we are committed to making things better.

“We will keep focused on putting things right until we and the CQC are confident all the concerns have been fixed.”