Archived: Great North Air Ambulance Service

Updated 5 July 2018

Great North Air Ambulance Service is a charity. It is an independent ambulance service based in Darlington, Country Durham. The helicopter fleet, vehicles, and staff teams are based at a purpose built centre at Durham Tees Valley Airport in Darlington and at a second base in Langwathby in Cumbria. The service primarily serves the communities of Northern and North East England and covers an area of approximately 8000 square miles. This includes from North Yorkshire, to the Scottish Borders, and the Irish Sea on the Cumbrian West coast. The charity is home to three helicopters and four rapid response vehicles.

The service has had a registered manager in post since February 2016. An additional registered manager had come into post in March 2017. The service provides the following regulated activities:

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
• Transport services, triage, and medical advice provided remotely
• Diagnostic or screening procedures
• Surgical procedures

Great North Air Ambulance Service has previously been inspected by CQC on 6 December 2011, 20 December 2012, 4 November 2013 and inspections found that the service was meeting all standards of quality and safety it was inspected against.

We carried out an announced inspection on 20 March 2018.

Updated 5 July 2018

Great North Air Ambulance Service is operated by Great North Air Ambulance Service. The Great North Air Ambulance Service is a charity and provides emergency and urgent care for patients across Northern and North East England. A team of doctors and paramedics deliver medical care. Clinical staff travel by helicopter air ambulance or a rapid response vehicle (RRV).

We inspected this service using our comprehensive inspection methodology. We carried out the announced inspection on 20 March 2018.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led?

Throughout the inspection, we took account of what people told us and how the provider understood and complied with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The main service provided by this service was emergency and urgent care.

Services we do not rate

We regulate independent ambulance services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• The service was proactively engaged with initiatives to enhance patient care and develop and improve services. Staff were actively involved in developing, leading, and conducting pilot projects, research projects, audits, and teaching and training programmes. This included developing and facilitating the Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine Crew Course (PHEMCC), developing training for the police and mountain rescue, conducting a study of how the involvement of the air ambulance affected outcomes for patients, and involvement with a pilot project to develop the service for the use of blood products.
• The service had invested in a tailor-made computer system which recorded all patient contact and treatment given. The system could be used to support the auditing of clinical outcomes in order to monitor and improve service provision.
• There were processes to report, record, investigate and share learning from adverse events and serious incidents.
• There were systems in place to safeguard adults and children from abuse.
• Vehicles and equipment were appropriately serviced and maintained.
• Patients and staff were protected against healthcare associated infections.
• There were effective processes for medicines management.
• Patient care was evidence based and informed by best practice guidance.
• Staff described treating patients and relatives with compassion, dignity, and respect. Patient feedback about the service was positive.
• The service was designed to be responsive to patient needs.
• There were processes in place to receive, investigate, and respond to complaints.
• There was a clear leadership structure and comprehensive governance framework in place.
• The culture within the service was supportive. High quality patient care and continued service development and improvement was encouraged and supported by senior leaders.

However, we also found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

• Risk registers did not include clear ownership of mitigating actions and dates that risk registers were reviewed.
• Not all mandatory training was up to date.
• The provider had not submitted a Workforce Race Equality Standard Report.

Following this inspection, we told the provider that it should make improvements, even though a regulation had not been breached, to help the service improve.

Ellen Armistead

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals

Updated 5 July 2018

The main service was the provision of urgent and emergency care to injured or critically ill patients. Care was delivered by a team of doctors and paramedics. Transport was by helicopter air ambulance or a rapid response vehicle.

There were effective processes to assess, monitor, and mitigate risk. Patient care was evidence based and the service was proactive in identifying areas of development and innovation. Staff training and continued professional development was supported and encouraged. There were clear leadership and governance processes in place to support the operation of a safe, effective, compassionate, and responsive service.