The ambulance trust serving Brighton and Hove has come out of “special measures” after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
The CQC has rated the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust as “good” overall, the second highest of four ratings.
The watchdog’s verdict comes almost three years after it rated the trust as “inadequate” – the worst of the four ratings – and recommended “special measures”.
The CQC said: “England’s chief inspector of hospitals has recommended that South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust should be taken out of special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
“Professor Ted Baker and his inspectors found sufficient progress to make the recommendation to NHS Improvement.
“A team of inspectors from CQC visited the trust in June and July 2019.
“This was to assess the quality of the core services: emergency operations centres, emergency and urgent care and the trust’s out of hours and NHS 111 services.
“They also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: Is the trust well-led?
“The trust was rated as good overall and (good) for providing safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services. Previously the trust was rate as requires improvement.”
NHS medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “I am pleased to note the improvements that South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has made and sustained since the trust entered into special measures for reasons of quality in September 2016 and delighted to confirm that the trust has now been taken out of quality special measures.
“I recognise the hard work and commitment of all of their staff in delivering this outcome. I was particularly struck by the improvements in urgent and emergency care, which has improved from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘outstanding’.
“We also recognise that the trust still has progress to make in a number of areas and that they have plans in place to build and maintain further improvement.”
South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust provides ambulance services for people in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex areas.
The NHS regional director for the south east Anne Eden said: “This is excellent news for patients in the local area who are now benefiting from an improved ambulance service.
“This is a significant improvement and one which staff across the trust have worked hard to achieve.
