SSG UK Specialist Ambulance Services

The request was successful.

Dear East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

In the Service Standards set out by Schedule 5 – DPS Standard Specification of Requirements (SOR) in the document with EMAS Mater Reference No. CA5471, section 1.2 states "Suppliers must comply with relevant legislation, national and local standards including: Care Quality Commission Standards (CQC)"

In responce to FoI requests 19796 and 24676, it was revealed that in both 2018 and 2019, private ambulance services were provided to East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust by SSG UK Specialist Ambulance Services Ltd.

A report published by the Care Quality Commission following an unannounced inspection in November 2018 found that SSG failed to discharge its duty of candour responsibilities, as set in Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 20; that staff training records at SSG did not contain accurate information, so there was limited assurance that all staff had completed mandatory training and safety checks relevant to their roles; that medicines at SSG were not safely managed, with drug fridge temperatures not routinely checked; that SSG did not routinely collect or monitor information on patient outcomes; that staff at SSG had variable knowledge of their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act. The report also set advisories for SSG to improve in areas that did not contravene regulations.

I would like to request any documents relating to any action or responce taken by the Trust following the CQCs inspection of SSG, as well as any documents which set out the process for removing a providers ability to operate for East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust should they fail to meet the requirements set out in the DPS Framework, or any other requirements set by the Trust.

Yours faithfully,
Finlay Cox

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Thank you for your email. This acknowledgement has been triggered
electronically and means that your email has been received by the
Information Governance Department. Your request will be dealt with under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and it is our intention to respond to
you within twenty working days.

Please note that the volume of FoI requests received by this Trust now
exceeds available resources and given the need for all Trusts to reduce
corporate expenditure to within those targets set by the Carter Review, no
additional capacity is available to support our increasing workload.
Depending on the complexity and volume of your request, this context may
impact on our ability to respond to your request as soon as we would like.

This email transmission and all attached files contain information
intended for the designated individual or entity to whom it is addressed
and may contain information that is proprietary, privileged and/or exempt
from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended
recipient or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message
to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
distribution, copying, or other use of this email or its attachments is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and please
delete the original message without making any copies.

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Dear Finlay

Further to your email, the Trust apologises for the delay in our responding to you. As you are no doubt aware, we are currently dealing with urgent Public Health priorities and this is in turn affecting our ability to respond to requests in a timely manner.

Please know that we are continuing to process your request and will have our response to you as soon as we are able.

We thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Kind regards

FoI Officer
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Please note our new email address: [East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email]

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Dear FOI East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust,

I am writhing to ask that my request sent on the 12th March 2020 regarding SSG Specialist Ambulance Services be replied to.

I recognise that due to the ongoing public health crisis, the Trust may be putting less resources into Freedom of Information, and therefore may delay replies to requests, however would also note the public scrutiny of health services is paramount now more than ever.

Please may I at least be updated as to when I might receive a response.

Yours sincerely,

Finlay Cox

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Your request for information may be delayed due to urgent operational
responses to dealing with Public Health priorities. We apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause, we do remain committed to responding to your
request and will respond as soon as we are able. Should our response to
your request breach the statutory timeframe and you remain unhappy with
our response you have the right to complain to the Information
Commissioners Office and you can contact them
here [1]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your...

Thank you for your email. This acknowledgement has been triggered
electronically and means that your email has been received by the
Information Governance Department. Your request will be dealt with under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and it is our intention to respond to
you within twenty working days.

Please note that the volume of FoI requests received by this Trust now
exceeds available resources and given the need for all Trusts to reduce
corporate expenditure to within those targets set by the Carter Review, no
additional capacity is available to support our increasing workload.
Depending on the complexity and volume of your request, this context may
impact on our ability to respond to your request as soon as we would like.

This email transmission and all attached files contain information
intended for the designated individual or entity to whom it is addressed
and may contain information that is proprietary, privileged and/or exempt
from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended
recipient or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message
to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
distribution, copying, or other use of this email or its attachments is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and please
delete the original message without making any copies.

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your...
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your...

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Dear Finlay

Thank you for your email.

My apologies for the continued delay in our responding to you. The Trust is continuing to process your request and we are aiming to have our response to you by next week.

Once again my apologies for the delay, and any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards

FoI Officer
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Please note our new email address: [East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email]

show quoted sections

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Dear Finlay

Further to my email dated 7th June 2021, with my apologies for this continued delay, I am afraid that we are not in a position to be able to respond to your request today. Our response is currently going through its final checks and we are aiming to have this to you as soon as possible next week.

Once again my apologies for the delay and any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards

FoI Officer
East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Please note our new email address: [East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email]

show quoted sections

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

26 Attachments

Dear Finlay

 

Further to your email dated 15th March 2021, please find the Trust's
response below.  Your request has been allocated the following reference:
25825, please could you quote this reference in any future correspondence
with the Trust.

 

In the Service Standards set out by Schedule 5 – DPS Standard
Specification of Requirements (SOR) in the document with EMAS Mater
Reference No. CA5471, section 1.2 states "Suppliers must comply with
relevant legislation, national and local standards including: Care Quality
Commission Standards (CQC)"

 

In responce to FoI requests 19796 and 24676, it was revealed that in both
2018 and 2019, private ambulance services were provided to East of England
Ambulance Service NHS Trust by SSG UK Specialist Ambulance Services Ltd.

 

A report published by the Care Quality Commission following an unannounced
inspection in November 2018 found that SSG failed to discharge its duty of
candour responsibilities, as set in Health and Social Care Act 2008
(Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014: Regulation 20; that staff
training records at SSG did not contain accurate information, so there was
limited assurance that all staff had completed mandatory training and
safety checks relevant to their roles; that medicines at SSG were not
safely managed, with drug fridge temperatures not routinely checked; that
SSG did not routinely collect or monitor information on patient outcomes;
that staff at SSG had variable knowledge of their roles and
responsibilities under the Mental Capacity Act. The report also set
advisories for SSG to improve in areas that did not contravene
regulations.

 

I would like to request any documents relating to any action or responce
taken by the Trust following the CQCs inspection of SSG, as well as any
documents which set out the process for removing a providers ability to
operate for East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust should they fail
to meet the requirements set out in the DPS Framework, or any other
requirements set by the Trust.

 

Please find the Trust’s response attached.

 

To safeguard their data protection rights the Trust does not release any
names other than those of Trust Directors and their first line reports. 
We have redacted any other names under exemption s.40 of the Freedom of
Information Act. 

 

The Trust has also applied exemption s.43 to information within this
request that we consider to be commercially confidential.

 

In addition, we have redacted any information relating to other PAS
providers as your request relates to SSG only.

 

I am obliged to advise you that if you are dissatisfied with the Trust’s
response to your request you have a right to complain to the Trust and
should set out your concerns to the Freedom of Information Officer, EEAST,
Hospital Approach, Broomfield, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 7WS or by email to
[1][East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email]. If you remain dissatisfied following this, you have
a right under Section 50 of the FOIA to seek a determination from the
Information Commissioner on whether the Act has been properly applied by
the Trust. For more information, please see [2]www.ico.gov.uk/

 

Under the Accessible Information Standard the Trust is required to ask our
FoI applicants equality and diversity questions. You are under no
obligation; however we would be grateful if you could complete the form
attached and email this back to us.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further
information.

 

Kind regards

 

FoI Officer

East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

 

Please note our new email address: [East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust request email]

 

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Dear FOI,

I realise this request (25825) is old, but I just wanted to express my gratitude for a well thought through and comprehensive response. This is precisely the information I was after.

Yours sincerely,

Finlay Cox

FOI, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Your request for information may be delayed due to urgent operational
responses to dealing with Public Health priorities. We apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause, we do remain committed to responding to your
request and will respond as soon as we are able. Should our response to
your request breach the statutory timeframe and you remain unhappy with
our response you have the right to complain to the Information
Commissioners Office and you can contact them
here [1]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your...

 

 

Thank you for your email. This acknowledgement has been triggered
electronically and means that your email has been received by the
Information Governance Department. Your request will be dealt with under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and it is our intention to respond to
you within twenty working days.

Please note that the volume of FoI requests received by this Trust now
exceeds available resources and given the need for all Trusts to reduce
corporate expenditure to within those targets set by the Carter Review, no
additional capacity is available to support our increasing workload.
Depending on the complexity and volume of your request, this context may
impact on our ability to respond to your request as soon as we would like.

This email transmission and all attached files contain information
intended for the designated individual or entity to whom it is addressed
and may contain information that is proprietary, privileged and/or exempt
from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended
recipient or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message
to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
distribution, copying, or other use of this email or its attachments is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender immediately by replying to this message and please
delete the original message without making any copies.

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your...