4:10pm Wednesday 13th May 2009
By James Connell
AMBULANCES are clean, patients are treated with dignity and respect and 999 calls are answered quickly according to an independent survey.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust was rated 93 out of 100 in for the quality of care provided to category C (non-urgent) patients by independent regulator the Care Quality Commission.
The survey, published today, is of all 11 ambulance trusts in the country and was the first of its kind ever conducted.
Category C patients are deemed by call handlers to be ‘non-urgent or non-life-threatening’ as opposed to immediately life-threatening (category A) or calls that require urgent attention (category B).
The trust received a score of 90 or over in 18 out of 22 of the questions handed to patients by the CQC which replaces the Healthcare Commission.
The trust scored 98 for the speed at which 999 calls were answered and 97 for the cleanliness of the ambulance and a score of 96 for staff treating patients with “dignity and respect”.
The trust scored 93 for the level of reassurance the control room operator gave to 999 callers.
Staff also listen carefully to patients - the trust received a rating of 94 for this.
The number of patients who responded to each question ranged from 35 to 349.
The trust scored above the national average in almost two thirds of the categories.
The lowest scores were 85 for pain control and 86 for patient involvement in care and treatment.
Trust Medical Director, Dr Roger Cooke, said: “Whilst we are never complacent, these results are very pleasing. They recognise the hard work that our staff put in every single day throughout the organisation.
“I must pay tribute to the staff – without them we could not have scored so highly. They are a very committed group of individuals who have the patient’s best interests at heart; something which is very clearly reflected in these results.”
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