Marches Ambulance Service

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred responsive care and supported innovation.

We have not awarded this service a score for Well-led.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Well-led.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities.

Leaders ensured there was a shared vision and strategy and that staff knew, understood and supported the vision, values and strategic goals and how their role helped in achieving them.

Leaders modelled and encouraged compassionate, inclusive and supportive relationships among staff so that they felt respected, valued and supported.

Marches ambulance service, vision was to deliver safe, compassionate, and community focused pre-hospital care that improved lives both inside and outside the ambulance.

The service had core values which were shared with all staff. The core values included integrity, respect, professionalism, how we treat people, and how we give back.
The registered manager said they believed that every contact with the service should make a positive difference, whether through clinical care, education, or community support.

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

Staff said they felt valued by managers and leaders and that their managers were approachable and supportive. Several staff positively identified their experience working for Marches Ambulance with access and support from mangers. One staff member said: “the difference between this company (The Marches) and bigger services is that senior leaders attend shifts, so conversations feel more relaxed. Although there is a hierarchy, it feels like you are speaking to a friend, whilst maintaining respect for positions within the team.” Managers were happy to receive feedback/ concerns and have conversations around what went well on shift and any improvements.

The service recruited managers and leaders with the skills, knowledge and experience to lead effectively. There were systems to review the performance of the manager and leaders to continually develop their skills and improve the service. The welfare officer and event medical manager programmes provided clear progression pathways for staff with over 12 months’ service.

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Information provided by staff and leaders identified the organisation had a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and that their voice would be heard. Staff told us managers were supportive and approachable. Staff said they would be confident to raise concerns about practice, and any concerns would be listened to and acted upon.

The service had systems and processes to support people to raise concerns and for their concerns to be acted upon. The service had 2 welfare officers who provided a clear point of contact for staff to raise concerns or seek support. Contact could be made by a dedicated email address, telephone or face to face. The dedicated email address supported staff who wished to remain anonymous as the email address could only be accessed by the welfare officers who provided support for people to raise concern.

Policies which supported " Speaking up " and raising concerns were also included within the complaints procedure, incident reporting and sharing the investigation of incidents, and duty of candour.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They work towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who work for them.

Marches Ambulance Service demonstrated a commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion, and human rights. All staff had had received mandatory training in equality and diversity. Training modules covered the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998, and bias awareness, ensuring staff understand their responsibilities to provide fair and respectful care. Key themes from these modules were reinforced during Governance and Welfare Forums, providing opportunities for discussion, reflection, and learning across the organisation.

Marches Ambulance Service promoted equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) through initiatives such as dedicated welfare officer roles, flexible working arrangements, and fair, transparent recruitment practices. These measures created an environment where all staff were treated equitably and supported to perform at their best. Feedback from the 2025 Staff Survey demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. For example, one staff member commented: “I enjoy working with Marches, I have worked with other event providers but always feel I can speak to someone at Marches, no matter what I want to ask. Feedback is always provided, good feedback is shared with the whole team, but anything negative is always shared privately with constructive feedback and support to improve. I feel I can raise concerns, there is always someone able to help, no matter how silly the question seems!"

Marches Ambulance Service had a manager who was the identified EDI lead. The EDI lead was responsible for driving these initiatives and will continue to review workforce representation, implement awareness campaigns, and monitor staff engagement to ensure Marches Ambulance Service maintained a positive, inclusive, and supportive workplace culture.

The service did not always act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes. There were clear structures, processes and systems of accountability to support the delivery of the service.

During this assessment we found there were some out of date consumables. The manager told us they had found limitations in their electronic systems to check consumables. Whilst the system had identified some items were out of date it had not identified what items and where they were located and required additional audit which was being undertaken at the time of our visit. The manager told us they presently addressing this with a different system.

The service had a meeting structure in place which gave senior managers regular opportunities to discuss operational issues and performance and included monthly clinical governance meeting and medicines management meetings.

The governance system monitored the quality of care provided, patient feedback, staff performance and changes to best practice guidance. Staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities and had regular opportunities to meet, discuss and learn from the performance of the service. Leaders undertook a range of reviews and audits to monitor performance. Leaders and managers discussed the results of audits at governance meetings, which they also shared with staff for learning. The organisation learning log was discussed during the monthly clinical governance meetings.

Leaders used effective governance processes to monitor risks and outcomes, and to drive improvement. Leaders took a proportionate approach to managing risk that allowed them to assess new and innovative ideas. The risk register for the service set out key risks as well as actions, mitigations, and environments, workforce and financial strategies. Information available kept leaders informed of challenges they faced with short, medium and long-term plans identified.

Leaders shared updates and learning with staff through a range of communications. Policies and procedures reflected this and leaders monitored the service’s performance to measure outcomes of care and treatment.

Managers and staff consistently submitted data and notifications to external organisations as required.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

Managers identified they were an organisation which focused on the communities it served. Managers said they believed an ambulance service should do more than respond to emergencies and should actively help people to stay well and feel confident managing health in the community.

Marches Ambulance service provided cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) workshops to the community for no charge. The CPR workshops had trained more than 150 members of the public in the last year in basic life support, increasing confidence to use CPR and increasing and potentially improving survival rates across local communities.

Marches Ambulance Service were part of the national initiative that supported suicide prevention and mental health awareness by promoting open conversation and access to help for staff, volunteers, and local partners.

Marches Ambulance Service provided free medical cover for community fundraisers this ensured participants could take part safely supporting local charities to raise essential funds.

Marches Ambulance Service was an Armed Forces Covenant Signatory: recognising the contribution of veterans, reservists, and military families, and offering employment and training pathways into civilian healthcare roles.

All Marches Ambulance Service staff were encouraged to contribute ideas for new projects that aligned with the service’s values to benefit the wider community.

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice and research.

Marches Ambulance Service was a forward-thinking, values-driven independent ambulance service with a culture of continuous learning and improvement based on evidence and local need. This delivered improved outcomes, equality of access, experience and promoted effective patient care. After each event, the team would meet to discuss any improvements/what went well, to ensure the service were continuously improving.

Staff learnt from incidents with this learning cascaded to all staff. They had introduced seizure and toxicity management training following national leaning from patient deaths in other services. They had introduced a digital governance system, allowing real-time logging, tracking, and review of incidents, compliments, and clinical alerts. This gave instant visibility of risk and organisational learning.

There was an open feedback culture through staff surveys, welfare initiatives, and visible leadership presence at events.

Marches Ambulance Service actively promoted environmental sustainability. It had a number of innovations which included being a participant in a carbon offsetting programme and had offset 6 tonnes of cardon dioxide annually through verified tree planting initiative.

There was on-site recycling, with reduction in single-use plastics where clinically safe, and active monitoring of fuel consumption. It operated under a waste exemption licence which ensured ethical and traceable disposal of clinical and non-clinical waste, with partnerships for recycling and repurposing wherever possible.

The fleet replacement programme prioritised low-emission, modern ambulances and efficient route planning to minimise environmental impact.