Have your say about ambulance service as inspection looms

Ambulance

Views and experiences of patients and families who have used services provided by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) are being sought by inspectors at the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals is inviting people to contact the CQC with their experiences of the emergency service, patient transport and the NHS 111 service provided by NWAS.

Views including how NWAS handles calls, how ambulance and transport staff treat people, the out of hours service and how the service could improve will help inspectors during their inspection of the trust on May 23.

The chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: "Last year, NHS ambulance services received over nine million 999 calls resulting in the majority of patients being taken an emergency department or directly admitted to a specialist department such as a stroke or coronary unit.

"At the same time, nearly two million people could be treated at home thanks to the skills of am-bulance staff.

"Ambulance services are also responsible for helping to care for over five million patient transport service journeys each year for people who need help attending non-emergency appointments.

"We need to make sure that ambulance services are safe, caring, responsive and well-led.

"This inspection will provide people with a clear picture of the quality of their ambulance service, exposing poor or mediocre service if it exists as well as highlighting where the trust provides good and excellent services.

"If you have recently needed to call out an ambulance in an emergency, or have experience of using the service ­- we would like to hear from you.

"This is your opportunity to tell Care Quality Commission what you think, and make a difference to NHS services."

The North West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust serves seven million people in an area covering Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Glossop, Derbyshire.

The Care Quality Commission will publish a full report of findings later in the year and will rate the trust as either outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate.

Patients and family members can share their experience of the trust in the following ways:

Online: www.cqc.org.uk/syesNWAS

By email: enquiries@cqc.org.uk

By letter: CQC, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA

By phone: 03000 61 61 61

In person: The inspection team will speak to patients during the inspection for their views.