Issue - meetings

To consider the Quality Account and an update on current issues

Tim Butcher, Assistant Director for Performance Improvement, North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), presented the draft Quality Account.  He explained that the Quality Account provided an opportunity for NWAS to talk about the wide ranging role of NWAS rather than just focusing on response times. 

He outlined the main highlights of the year including:

      Exceeding the national quality target for responding to the most serious life threatening emergencies within 8 minutes following a 999 call;

      They were the first ambulance trust in England to achieve Level 2 compliance against NHS Litigation Authority’s Risk Management Standards;

      They were awarded the Health Service Journal Clinical Redesign Award for the Paramedic Pathfinder project, a toolkit to ensure that patients were treated and cared for safely and in the most appropriate place following an emergency call.

The Care Quality Commission had conducted an inspection in March 2012 and had given a very positive report on NWAS compliance with the CQC standards of quality and safety. 

This year NWAS was seeking authorisation as a Foundation Trust which would involve enhanced arrangements for public and staff involvement. 

In relation to the five priorities for improvement as identified in the previous year’s Quality Account, progress was as follows:

      End of Life Care – NWAS had developed a Rapid Discharge Procedure with ten organisations across the North West.  This had enabled an integrated discharge pathway to ensure patients could end their lives with dignity and in their own home.  This year 87% of transfers had been completed within 2 hours of the request being made;  NWAS had also produced a “how to” guide for ambulance services to improve services offered to people at the end of life; NWAS had introduced a system where patients at home had personalised care plans wherever possible and staff were alerted to this when attending the patient’s home address;

      111 and Frequent Callers – NWAS had stated they would begin the process of a single point of access for urgent and emergency care.  They also wanted to work with local commissioners to address the issue of people who made frequent 999 calls.  A pilot had been set up of the 111 number for urgent care needs.  Work had also taken place with each PCT regarding frequent callers who were often vulnerable people who were not aware of alternative help and support;

      Chain of Survival and Complementary Resources – NWAS had a two year plan to increase community access to life saving equipment and skilled volunteers – the “Complementary Resources” Strategy.  During 2011/12 NWAS had worked in partnership with the British Heart Foundation, and introduced 20 new Community First Responder Schemes, 50 new staff responders (volunteers) and 125 additional Automated External Defibrillators (AEDS) installed in public places.  There were a number of Community First Responder schemes in Cheshire East including Holmes Chapel, Knutsford, Poynton and Alsager, with new schemes introduced in Bollington and Middlewich.  The presence of Community First Responder schemes had helped with response time targets.  NWAS had achieved the target for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9