‘Great’ trust seen as ‘insular and dismissive of integration’

A “great” ambulance trust’s “uncompromising” focus on outcomes and its own performance has been a barrier to system working and affected relationships with partners, an external review has advised it.

The report from the Good Governance Institute on West Midlands Ambulance Service University Foundation Trust found partners felt it was “increasingly out of sync with new ways of working under integrated care” and even “somewhat dismissive of the integrated care agenda”.

It praised the trust overall, saying: “WMAS is seen by all those we spoke to as being a great organisation: well run, with strong leadership and a clear focus on operational delivery.

But it said communications, especially through the press, were seen as “bullish and at times damaging to the reputation of partners and harmful to patients”. Its reputation and performance can create a culture of engagement with external partners that “seems defensive at best and arrogant/dismissive at worst”, with the trust being “prickly towards external challenge”, the consultants’ report added.

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Source: HSJ, 27 July