CQC Report: St John Ambulance - South Region, September 2022
This report describes the CQC's judgement of the quality of care at this service.
The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
Staff provided good care and treatment. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients and supported them to make decisions about their care.
Staff also treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long.
The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.
People's experience of this service
Staff gave patients and those close to them help, emotional support and advice when they needed it. Feedback from patients and relatives through the services’ compliments included: “Throughout the whole procedure, which involved various medical checks, they were so thorough and very kind and caring. I cannot thank them enough for trying to give comfort to my mother in law who was very frightened and anxious about having to go to hospital."
Staff made sure patients and those close to them understood their care and treatment. Staff supported patients to make informed decisions about their care. Feedback from a patient through the services’ compliments included: “They were kind, very helpful and put my mum who is 90 at ease, they explained everything which I was extremely grateful for. They were amazing.”
Staff spoke with patients and family members in a way they could understand and were able to ask questions and seek more support if needed. Feedback from patients and relatives through the services’ compliments included: “As a family we wanted to thank you both for the kindness and care you showed us that evening - You not only prepared us by explaining everything that would happen but made us feel safe which was so comforting.”
The latest rating for this service is "Good".
