The ambulance service that covers both Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge has been placed under special Âmeasures by England’s Chief ÂInspector of Hospitals after it was damned as ‘inadequate’ during a recent inspection.
It is the latest setback for the South East Coast Ambulance Service Â(SECAMB), following allegations of staff bullying in July and the Âresignation of former chief executive Paul Sutton in May for misreporting call-handling performance.
Last week, the Care ÂQuality ÂCommission (CQC) outlined Ânumerous ‘areas of concern’ which had led to the ambulance service being rated inadequate overall.
They found the trust was failing to meet national performance targets for response times and had low Âstaffing levels, a ‘lack of Âstrategic Âleadership’ and inadequately Âmaintained equipment.
In addition, the report described safeguarding arrangements within the trust as ‘weak’ – made worse by a lack of accountability – and stated that the development of practice Âoutside of national guidelines had ‘put Âpeople using the service at risk’.
Areas of good practice Âhighlighted were the support of patients to Âmanage their own health, close co-operation with other healthcare providers and provision of training to ‘enhance’ the role of paramedics.
In a statement released by the CQC, Professor Sir Mike ÂRichards, the Chief ÂInspector of Hospitals, Âacknowledged the ‘significant upheaval’ at the service following changes in its senior leadership.
He praised the staff for ‘giving their best’ and treating patients Âkindly, with dignity, care and Âcompassion while dealing with almost a million emergency calls a year.
But he added: “It was apparent that the leadership had not been supporting staff to do their jobs effectively.
Staff told us there was a culture of harassment and Âbullying. We found in many cases there Âweren’t enough properly trained staff, or that the proper equipment wasn’t available to them.
“At the time of the inspection, we found evidence that senior Âexecutives were not always pulling in the same direction. However, Âimprovements are being formulated by an experienced interim chair and the executive has been recently strengthened by new appointments.”
Sir Mike said he wished to provide ‘reassurance’, stating that once care arrives it is ‘of a good standard’ and adding that measures were now under way to address the concerns.
SECAMB said the organisation is ‘committed’ to improving the Âquality of its service but the Acting Chief ÂExecutive, Geraint Davies, Âacknowledged there had been Âfailings at the service.
He said: “While we are pleased that the dedication and care of our staff is highlighted as ‘good’ in this report, we are sorry that we have not met the standards expected in a number of other areas.
“We are determined to implement the changes required to restore confidence in our service.”
