Report to:

East Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)

 

Date of meeting:

 

22 September 2022

By:

Assistant Chief Executive

 

Title:

South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) Care Quality Commission (CQC) Report

 

Purpose:

To provide the Committee with an overview of SECAmb’s CQC report findings and the Trust’s Improvement Plan

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Committee is recommended to:

1)    consider and comment on the update; and

2)    consider whether to request a further report on any of the other areas covered in the update.

 

1.    Background

1.1.        South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) provides emergency and urgent care services in response to calls from the public and other healthcare professionals across Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent and Medway, Surrey, and parts of North East Hampshire. The Trust operates two emergency operations centres (EOC) that receive and triage 999 these calls. The EOC provides ambulance dispatch as appropriate and provides assessment and treatment advice to callers who do not need an ambulance response, a service known as “hear and treat”. SECAmb is also the provider of the NHS 111 service for residents in Kent and Sussex who require urgent care and advice over the phone.

1.2.        The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated SECAmb as inadequate following an inspection in May 2016. The Trust subsequently made a number of improvements over the following years and was eventually rated as good overall and in all domains in August 2019.

1.3.        The CQC conducted a focused inspection of the Emergency and Urgent Care services provided by SECAmb in March 2022 to assess how patient risks were being managed across health and social care services during increased and extreme capacity pressures. The CQC also inspected the EOC and 111 service and, due to concerns about leadership quality and culture in the organisation, inspected the well-led domain for the trust.

1.4.        The CQC published its inspection report on 22nd June 2022 and rated the Trust as inadequate in its well-led domain. The overall rating has been suspended whilst the CQC carries out further checks on all the provider’s locations.

1.5.        Due to the inadequate rating in the well-led domain, the CQC recommended to NHS England that the Trust be places into the Recovery Support Programme (RSP).

1.6.        NHS provider trusts placed into an RSP by NHS England must produce an Improvement Plan that includes a target timeline for exit from the RSP. NHS England must be satisfied that the agreed exit criteria have been met in a sustainable way and any required transitional support is in place before agreeing that a trust may leave the RSP.

1.7.        In June 2022, the Trust also announced the appointment of an Interim Chief Executive, Siobhan Melia, following the resignation of Philip Astle. Siobhan joins the Trust from the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust where she was the Chief Executive and formally took up her position with the Trust in July.

 

2.    Supporting information

2.1.        The CQC produces an inspection report following inspections of all health and social care providers. The full CQC inspection report is available online and an excerpt is attached as appendix 1. In summary:

2.2.        SECAmb has produced a report for the HOSC attached as appendix 2. The report covers:

·         The CQC inspection in February/March 2022; and

 

3          Conclusion and reasons for recommendations

3.1       The reports provides an overview of the issues and areas for improvement identified by the CQC, along with the Trust’s Improvement Plan. HOSC is recommended to consider the report and decide whether future updates are needed on any of the areas covered in the report.

 

PHILIP BAKER
Assistant Chief Executive

Contact Officer: Harvey Winder, Policy and Scrutiny Officer
Tel. No. 01273 481796
Email: harvey.winder@eastsussex.gov.uk