Hertfordshire ambulance service significantly improves with 'outstanding' rating from CQC

Hearts First Ambulance Service, which is based in Radlett, has been rated as ‘outstanding’ in a CQC report published this morning.

It was given an ‘outstanding’ rating in three of five key categories, and received ‘good’ grades as its other two marks.

This represents a major improvement from the last CQC report published in 2022, which found the service ‘required improvement’ in three of five areas.

Hearts First Ambulance Service was rated as outstanding in the safe, effective, and well-led categories, and good in the caring and responsive sections.

Hearts First Ambulance Service is a private organisation that delivers transport services, triage and medical advice remotely, alongside treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

During the CQC previous monitoring visit it found the service to be in breach of two regulations in relation to safe staffing and good management. At this inspection, inspectors found that significant improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach.

Sarah Ivory-Donnelly, CQC's deputy director of hospitals in the East of England, said: “When we inspected Hearts First Ambulance Service, we found significant improvements had been made since our last inspection and feedback had been taken on board to ensure people now received an exceptional level of care.

“It was evident that staff treated people with kindness and compassion, while also protecting their privacy and dignity. Staff were people focused and understood their role when delivering person-centred care. They treated people as part of their family and ensured they were always safe and comfortable.

“The service had enough staff with the right clinical skills to support people, allowing them to respond to people in a timely way and giving staff the opportunity to ask questions and provide answers.

“Leaders recognised the diverse community they served and monitored people's outcomes to make sure expectations were met. Staff received bespoke training and development to support them to deliver good care and ensure people received an exceptional service.

“We found that staff and people were empowered to speak up and were confident to raise concerns, which was great to see. Leaders thoroughly investigated and actively promoted learning from any internal and external incidents. For example, they developed a training package following a safety incident at another independent ambulance service and shared key learnings with staff, including a picture step-by-step guide to demonstrate safe manual handling techniques. Staff were required to evidence they were up to date with any guidance, safety alerts or policy changes prior to their shift starting.

“Overall, leaders and staff should be incredibly proud of the work they have done to improve the service to such a high standard and provide outstanding care for people.”

Inspectors found that staff involved people and, where appropriate, those close to them, in assessments of their physical, emotional and personal care needs.

CQC inspectors also praised the way leaders had implemented robust recruitment processes. The service had a mixture of full time-employees and bank staff who worked well together to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs, the commission stated.