Hatzola Trust

Updated 21 July 2022

Hatzola Trust is a non-profit, volunteer organisation providing emergency medical response and transportation to the North London community. The service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The service responds to around 450 calls per month. Patients served by Hatzola Trust range from the critically unwell to those with minor injuries. The service is staffed by volunteers from the Jewish community of Stamford Hill and surrounding areas of North East London.

There were 28 dispatchers and 48 responders. Dispatchers were mainly home based and answered the calls and radioed out to responders to assign and dispatch. The registered manager had been in post since November 2021.

We last inspected this location on 12 March 2020. There were no requirement notices or enforcement actions associated with the service.

Updated 21 July 2022

Our rating of this service improved. We rated it as good because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service. The service had improved awareness of safeguarding concerns in relation to child accidents since the last inspection, and had improved processes to identify addresses which may require police assistance or addresses the service received frequent calls from.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, and gave patients pain relief when they needed it. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information. The service had improved access to guidelines for responders, who now had the Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC) guidelines on their tablet devices. The service had also improved its monitoring of the number of calls where callers were advised to call 999.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually. The service had improved staff training in risk identification and management, which was now part of the online mandatory training program.

However:

• We found that a sharps bin did not have a date on.
• The service did not always follow their policy on storing medicines.
• There were no details of source references, authors or review dates on the call handling protocol.

Updated 21 July 2022

Our rating of this service improved. We rated it as good.