The Care Quality Commission rates East Midlands Ambulance Service as ‘Good’ overall and ‘Outstanding’ for caring
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its full report on EMAS and their overall rating has improved from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’.
EMAS have also been rated ‘outstanding’ for the care provided, and ‘good’ for the other four key areas from the inspection – safe, effective, responsive and well-led.
The full report is the result of a comprehensive inspection during April 2019 of all four core EMAS services and a well-led inspection at our Horizon Place headquarters in May 2019.
Representatives from the CQC visited the EMAS sites, spent time in the Emergency Operations Centres, on ambulances, and spoke to EMAS colleagues, volunteers and patients. The improved rating is "tremendous news" for EMAS colleagues who work and volunteer at EMAS, but for their patients and their loved ones.
The new rating is the result of EMAS delivering quality improvement plans (created in response to the 2015 and 2017 CQC rating), proactive recruitment and investment in frontline services and work to develop culture and leadership teams, the ‘Big 3’ vision and strategic objectives. As well as the hard work and commitment of colleagues working across EMAS to develop and provide quality services.
The CQC report includes several areas of outstanding practice, services and care:
- the introduction of our Urgent Care Transport Service
- the Conversation Café staff engagement tours, and use of augmented reality posters by the Communications team
- the management of frequent callers by the Frequent Callers Team
- innovative training delivered by our Hazardous Area Response Team
"Our new CQC ratings are testament to the dedication of all our ambulance colleagues and those who tirelessly support our service on a daily basis.”
