A LIFE-SAVING charity has been rated 'outstanding' after a visit by inspectors.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service been rated outstanding following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service is a charity which provides emergency, advanced critical care for patients across Cumbria, the North East of England and North Yorkshire. A team of doctors and paramedics deliver medical care via helicopter air ambulance or a rapid response vehicle.

This is the first time the service has been rated and inspectors found a service where people benefitted from outstanding care. 

Following the inspection, the service was rated outstanding overall and for being safe and well-led. It was rated good for being effective, caring and responsive.  

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC head of hospital inspection said: “When we inspected The Great North Air Ambulance, we were extremely impressed by the level of care and support people received when using this service.

“The charity is one of the first emergency services in the UK to use software that allows staff to access a mobile phone at the scene of an incident. The software allows the sharing of location and videos to enable staff to respond in real time and make informed decisions before deploying aircraft.

“We were also impressed by the service’s creation of a bag system that enabled staff to easily transport vital equipment including monitoring systems and ventilators to remote areas in an emergency.

“The charity made sure that staff were well trained, sometimes in more than one role. For example, some staff were trained paramedics who were also competent clinical managers meaning the service had access to all levels of staff at short notice. The service delivered specialist training programmes including enhanced pre-hospital resuscitation and transfer training.

“There was a genuine culture of wanting to provide the best care for patients and a desire to improve services. Staff at all levels were passionate about the service provided and were proud to work for the charity. Leaders inspired shared purpose to deliver and motivate staff to succeed.

“The whole team deserve to be congratulated for all their hard work and commitment.”