Case study – quality assurance review of Scottish Ambulance’s Incident Response and Command Course
Introduction
The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is a vital component of the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland, providing immediate medical assistance and clinical advice to residents across the country. Their mission is to deliver the highest level of care, preserving life and promoting recovery. With over 5,000 staff members and 1,200 volunteers, SAS serves a population of more than 5 million people, managing around 1 million patient transports annually and transferring 90,000 patients between hospitals.
SAS’s commitment to excellence is demonstrated through their continual efforts to ensure their training and operations meet the highest standards. This project exemplifies how external audits can play a pivotal role in maintaining and enhancing the quality of essential services.
The need
In their pursuit of maintaining exceptional standards, the SAS recognised the need for an external quality assurance audit of their Incident Response and Command Course (IRAC). This course is critical for ensuring that their incident response processes align with current best practices. They sought an independent organisation to validate their training methodologies and ensure continuous improvement.
The solution
The SAS chose Skills for Health to perform a quality assurance audit through the newly developed Skills for Health’s Quality Assurance Framework, which is based on the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework. Skills for Health has extensive experience in conducting audits across various sectors, making them an ideal partner.
The quality assurance audit included several key activities:
- Self-assessment: The IRAC Training Team completed a self-assessment, submitting key documents to evidence their current practices.
- Desk review: Skills for Health conducted a thorough desk review of the self-assessment forms, course materials, and policies.
- Interviews: Interviews were held with the training team, management team, and learners to gather detailed insights.
- On-site observations: Skills for Health consultants observed the delivery of the IRAC training course to evaluate its effectiveness.
- Quality assurance report: The findings were compiled into a comprehensive report, highlighting areas of good practice and providing recommendations for improvement.
- Follow-up presentation: An online presentation was conducted to discuss the audit findings and proposed action plan with the client.
The impact
The audit carried out by Skills for Health brought several positive outcomes for the SAS.
- Validation of good practices: The audit confirmed that the IRAC Training Team was already implementing many good practices.
- Actionable recommendations: Skills for Health provided targeted recommendations to further enhance the training programme, ensuring it remains aligned with best practices.
- Enhanced quality assurance: The comprehensive review and subsequent report offered SAS a clear path for continuous improvement in their training processes.
“The National Risk and Resilience Department (NRRD) of the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) recently had the pleasure of working with Skills for Health to conduct a training assurance review of the ‘Incident Response and Command Course’ (IRaC). We were impressed from the outset by their professionalism and expertise. The Technical Consultants took the time to understand our specific needs and goals for the audit. They conducted a thorough review of the IRaC training syllabus, identifying areas of strength and areas for improvement. Their approach was collaborative and insightful, and they provided valuable feedback on how to optimise our training goals. Thanks to Skills for Health, we’re now confident that the IRaC course syllabus and our training policies are aligned with Skills for Health best practice and effectively equip our Incident Commanders with the skills and knowledge required to deliver positive patient outcomes. We have already begun implementing their recommendations and are seeing positive results.” – John Carolan Cullion, Training Compliance Manager for The National Risk and Resilience Department at Scottish Ambulance Service.
Overall, the collaboration with Skills for Health has reinforced the Scottish Ambulance Service’s commitment to providing exceptional training for their staff, ensuring they are well-prepared to deliver critical care across Scotland.