- SERVICE PROVIDER
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Report from 19 December 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Emergency operations centre (EOC)
Our view of the service
"Date of Assessment: 6 and 7 May 2025. This was a fully comprehensive assessment of the Emergency Operations Centres (EOC) at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) based at Bicester and Otterbourne. An EOC receives and triages 999 calls from members of the public as well as other emergency services. It provides advice and dispatches an ambulance to the scene as appropriate. The EOC also provides assessment and treatment advice to callers who do not need an ambulance response. We assessed all areas of the EOC on both sites, including call handling, dispatch, clinical support specialisms, for example, maternity and mental health. We also met the education and Information Technology (IT) teams. We also interviewed leaders at all levels. The helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) was not run by SCAS; however, they worked onsite with the EOC. Therefore, we observed interactions between teams. The reason for the assessment was that the trust had an overall rating of Inadequate from the previous assessment in 2022, with EOC rated as Requires Improvement. Since then, the trust had been through a period of transformation and managerial changes. This assessment was to measure the effectiveness of the transformation process to date. We found a team that were passionate about their roles, and proud to work for the ambulance trust. Staff were optimistic about the future direction of the service and understood the reasons for change. However, staff advised us the pace of change was rapid, and communication was not always effective. Focus had been primarily on front facing services and and meant that support services such as the education and IT teams did not feel listened to. The services rating has increased from requires improvement to good".
People's experience of this service
The patients and families we spoke with were all positive about the staff. They told us staff treated them with warmth and kindness and provided effective care and treatment.
Patients said they did not feel anxious about raising concerns.
Local acute NHS trusts had been contacted regarding their experiences of working with South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. Most said communication with them was good.