London Ambulance Service Continues To Provide Quality Care For Patients, Says Healthcare Commission

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 04 Nov 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The London Ambulance Service has continued to provide patients with good quality care according to its latest health check by the Healthcare Commission.

In the Service's third annual assessment it was judged as 'good' for both its use of resources and its services - maintaining the standards set last year, despite an increase of nearly eight percent in the number of emergency calls received.

Chief Executive Peter Bradley CBE said: "Our staff have continued to work hard to provide the best possible care to our patients, and we're pleased this has been recognised."

"We have had a challenging year, with November and December being the busiest months in our history, but we have continued to improve our responses to patients while sustaining our financial performance.

We are currently recruiting and training up to 400 new members of frontline staff. Increasing our staffing levels will help us to further improve patient care and help us develop our service so that all our patients receive care that is best tailored to their needs."

During 2007/08 the Service handled 1,389,660 emergency calls - up from 1,288,819 in the previous 12 months - and responded to one per cent more potentially serious or life-threatening (Category A) incidents than in 2006/07.

Summary of the Healthcare Commission's annual performance rating for the London Ambulance Service 2007/08

Overall annual performance rating (made up of two parts):

-- Use of resources 'Good'
-- Quality of services 'Good'

"Based on our assessment for 2007/08, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust continued to provide a good quality of service to patients, having made improvements after the first year of the annual health check. It has continued to be good at managing its finances for the last three years."

Criteria to be assessed Rating

-- Use of resources 'Good'

"This organisation has been given a score of good for use of resources as it is performing well. Financial standing was found to be strong, as all financial targets were achieved over at least the last three years. All other areas were assessed as good including financial management and value for money. The arrangements in place appear to be operating effectively."

Quality of services comprises:

-- Meeting core standards 'Fully Met'
-- Existing national targets 'Almost Met'
-- New national targets 'Excellent'

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust