The East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) has been served with a warning notice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) due to significant failings in key areas, including staffing
levels and call response times.
EEAST, which provides emergency services across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, received a "requires improvement" rating in its last inspection in 2022. Despite this, the trust insists it has made "rapid improvements" since then.
Areas of concern
During the previous inspection, the CQC rated EEAST as "requires improvement" in four out of five key areas, with "caring" being the only category to receive a "good" rating. The commission identified several critical shortcomings:
- Insufficient staffing to ensure patient safety
- Outdated mandatory training for employees
- Poor clinical waste management
- Failure to meet agreed response times
- A lack of respect and value for staff
Data revealed a worrying decline in response times, with the average wait for category one emergency calls worsening by nearly 20% over the past year. Additionally, only 21% of ambulances responding to category four calls—the lowest priority cases—arrived within the three-hour target, leaving 79% of patients waiting longer than expected.
Regulatory action
- In response to these failings, the CQC issued a formal warning under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, citing non-compliance with legal requirements in areas such as:
- Staff training and staffing levels
- Investigation of controlled drug incidents
- Call wait times
- Workplace culture
Acting on staff feedback to drive improvements
Failure to meet these requirements could lead to further regulatory action, including imposing conditions on the trust, suspending services, or even cancelling its registration. Non-compliance with the notice could also constitute a criminal offence.
EEAST response
The trust highlighted several steps taken to address concerns, including redesigning mandatory training programs for greater effectiveness and tightening procedures for handling controlled substances. EEAST also reaffirmed its commitment to improving workplace culture and staff engagement.
Despite these challenges, the trust says it remains focused on delivering safer, more responsive care to patients across the region.