- Ambulance service
Archived: ION Pinewood
Assessment report published 29 May 2025
Contents
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
Well-led
Leaders were visible and supportive to help staff develop in their roles. There was a culture of continuous improvement and learning with staff undertaking regular training. Not all managers showed a good understanding of the use of systems and processes to manage governance. However, other managers showed support was available to peers. There was an awareness of the need to strengthen and improve the site, which the provider was focused on. Staff felt supported to give feedback and were treated fairly. Staff understood their roles and responsibilities.
At our last assessment, we rated this key question as Requires Improvement. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.
This service scored 61 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.
We did not look at Shared direction and culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.
Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
Staff we spoke with said they felt supported by the leadership team and understood the service vision to expand in the future. Staff we spoke with felt happy in their roles and understood they could go to leaders with questions and concerns if they had any. We saw senior managers contacting staff in a friendly and open manner; staff told us they were comfortable speaking with leaders.
Leaders had plans to develop the site and were undertaking active recruitment for more staff. The organisation had a structured and rotational on-call system in place to ensure appropriate escalation to a manager was available for operational staff. Team leaders were known as team mentors to support the approach of being an organisation of learning and support.
Freedom to speak up
Staff were able to raise concerns to leaders. There was not a specific freedom to speak up guardian, however, staff were aware of means by which they could raise concerns and whistle-blow. It was reported that a freedom to speak up guardian position was being reviewed, another manager told us the position was forthcoming.
There were multiple channels by which staff could raise concerns, this could be in-person with a manager, via online systems to protect anonymity, or by the staff forum. Staff raised concerns at a team meeting, their concerns were addressed and responded to in a newsletter from managers so all staff could read the communications which demonstrated the concerns were heard and actions were being taken to address the issues. There was a policy for staff raising concerns which provided guidance for how to whistleblow and how to manage these protected disclosures.
Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
Staff told us they were treated fairly and felt happy to work at the organisation.
Protected characteristics were demonstrated with reasonable adjustments being put into effect to ensure inclusivity and fair culture was integrated within the organisation. People were not discriminated against and were included in the workforce. Managers would discuss the need for flexible work with staff if required, to ensure work fit with their personal circumstances.
Processes were in place to ensure workforce equality, diversity and inclusion needs were met. Online advertisements were dedicated to specific communities’ at specific times of the year, such as Pride Month and Men’s Health Week. Annual appraisals were in place for all staff to continually review practice and roles, but also to engage with staff.
Governance, management and sustainability
The service had auditing systems in place, such as hand hygiene audits, vehicle cleaning and patient feedback reviews. A general manager demonstrated the reporting of incidents and how they were managed and archived. The manager appeared to have a good understanding of how to investigate matters and what was currently in the caseload.
The managers were starting leadership training to help the organisation become a more united team. Recent changes to roles within the management team had been recognised as a big transition. There was support amongst managers and it was evident that the managers cared about their team.
Whilst onsite we discussed auditing with another manager who undertook this role. Recent audits had not been completed as planned due to IT issues which the manager was aware of and had escalated to be resolved. These IT issues resulted in a lack of audit oversight as the team were unable to access and complete the documents.
Senior managers had weekly meetings where each head would update the group, ensuring there was oversight throughout the service. The regular senior management meetings would discuss which audits were being performed and when others were due. There was a risk log which managers updated and discussed at these meetings. The governance structure also included quarterly meetings with set agendas to ensure relevant policies were in place.
From the staff feedback survey, a majority did not feel valued by the management team. The managers addressed concerns in a communication bulletin to staff. There were irregular clinical staff team meetings, we were informed this was as it was difficult to get all the staff together at once due to shifts.
Partnerships and communities
We did not look at Partnerships and communities during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.
Learning, improvement and innovation
We did not look at Learning, improvement and innovation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.