The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will undertake a review of the effectiveness of the operation and governance of the South East Coast Ambulance Service.
Jane Ellison
Monitor, the then independent regulator of National Health Service foundation trusts announced on 28 October 2015 that it was taking action against South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust after the trust ran a project between December 2014 and February 2015 that increased how long some patients were waiting for ambulances.
Monitor’s requirements included the development of three reviews; the first was a forensic review of the project itself which was undertaken by Deloitte and the report was subsequently published on 15 March 2016; the second was a wider governance review, and the third a comprehensive patient impact study which is subject to a separate, clinically-led independent review currently underway. This review is due to be concluded this summer and published in due course.
Monitor used its regulatory powers to secure the appointment of Sir Peter Dixon as the new interim chair at the trust, following the resignation of its Chair Tony Thorne on 15 March 2015.
From 1 April 2016 Monitor became part of NHS Improvement who has confirmed that it is providing constructive challenge to the foundation trust on the content of an agreed action plan and continues to hold the trust board to account for delivery of that plan via usual regulatory meetings.