West Midlands Ambulance Service receives 'outstanding' Care Quality Commission rating

West Midlands Ambulance Service has received an 'outstanding' rating which is the highest possible rating from health and social care regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC report, published today, follows the regulators inspections to the Trust during the Summer of 2016.

The report specifically highlighted "staff were outstanding in the way that they supported patients."

It also outlined the "hard work of staff is exemplary and making a real difference to patients."

West Midlands Ambulance Service Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said: "West Midlands Ambulance Service is the only ambulance trust to be rated outstanding by the CQC. I am incredibly proud of my staff and the volunteers who support us, for providing the best possible care to patients across the West Midlands.

"Helping others is at the heart of everything we do and I am hugely pleased that the CQC saw a positive, patient centred culture within the Trust with hard working staff proud to work here and making a real difference to patients' lives. Compassion is a large part of our role and I am equally proud that the report highlighted staff were outstanding in the way they support people who are distressed or overwhelmed in stressful situations.

"Quality and safety are key priorities for us; they are essential for running an effective ambulance service and I'm pleased that this was highlighted by the CQC as was our strong and stable leadership team.

“I am delighted that they also recognised that we are at the forefront of making improvements in dealing with the ever-increasing number of emergency calls we receive by recruiting hundreds of paramedics, the introduction of new vehicles and trialling innovative ways to minimise the time patients must wait.

"I accept the comments in the report relating to improvements required in patient transport services. We have already implemented a number of improvements since the inspection and will continue to make further improvements so that we can improve their rating.

"One of the great strengths of this organisation are the staff and the way they work so hard to do what is right for our patients and their colleagues. As well as those highlighted we also see this in other areas such as our clinical performance and financial objectives.

"We will continue to do everything possible to raise our standards further. I would like to thank all of our staff and volunteers for their outstanding professionalism, continued dedication and hard work."