Health watchdog lifts its conditions from Yorkshire 999 service NHS trust (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Health watchdog lifts its conditions from Yorkshire 999 service NHS trust

8:00am Saturday 4th September 2010 in

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An independent health watchdog has lifted registration conditions on the district’s ambulance service following improvements in response times to life-threatening emergencies.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said yesterday that Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) had made sufficient improvement to lift conditions it had imposed on the trust’s licence in April when it introduced a tough new registration system for NHS trusts.

YAS was one of 22 trusts judged not to be meeting essential standards of quality and safety and was registered on the condition that it made improvements.

In particular, it was failing to meet the target requiring ambulances to respond to three-quarters of category A calls within eight minutes. CQC required the trust to take urgent action to ensure that by October 31 it was responding to emergencies within this target.

The CQC made two visits in June and July to check progress which found between April and August it responded to 76.1 per cent of category A calls within eight minutes. For August, the figure was 78.82 per cent.

A new rota system has been introduced to ensure staffing levels match expected demand for services and the trust is working with local hospitals to reduce the amount of time it takes to hand over patients.

The trust is also using rapid response vehicles as an initial response to incidents, which are then backed up by double-manned ambulances as appropriate.

Jo Dent, regional director of the CQC in Yorkshire and Humberside, said: “I know that an enormous amount of work has gone into meeting the target and the fact that collaborative working with other health bodies in the area has borne such impressive results will be a source of great satisfaction and pride for the ambulance service in Yorkshire.

“While we have removed the condition from the trust’s licence, we will be watching closely and expect to see these improvements maintained.

“The trust faces a number of challenges in delivering its ambitious plan for improvement. We want to see that ambition translate into lasting benefits for patients.”