THE boss of the East of England Ambulance Service has acknowledged that a latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has identified failings that have not been address sufficiently.

The service was last in receipt of a formal inspection notice in July 2022 when it was found to 'require improvement'.

The service's chief executive officer Neill Moloney has announced that a visit from CQC inspectors took place late last year, and they have called for a number of actions to speed up improvement.

Mr Moloney, who took opffice last September, says: "Following their inspection of EEAST in November last year we have received notification from the CQC they have found issues that we need to address.

"It is my view that the CQC is fair in its assessment.

"We are confident that we have identified significant and rapid improvements which can be put into action right away.

"I have been clear with everyone at EEAST that we all have a part to play in addressing the issues that the CQC has highlighted, and there are significant actions we must begin to take now.

"The areas we need to improve are:

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• - Our C2 performance meeting national standard of 30 minutes
• - Bringing all staff up to date with mandatory training
• - Driving down waiting times to pick up calls in line with national standards
• - Improving staffing in EOCs, which the CQC assessed as insufficient to keep service users safe from avoidable harm or to provide the right care and treatment
• - Tackling longstanding cultural issues across the three emergency operations centres sites and the emergency and urgent care sites
• - Investigating controlled medicine incidents
• - Ensuring ambulance stations act on staff feedback for their service, developing plans and taking actions for improvement.

"The Board and I are fully focused on making significant improvements quickly. An action plan has already been developed, and our work starts now. As evidenced by the improvements the Trust has made over the past few years, I know we can rise to this challenge.

"Since 2022, thanks to the staff at EEAST, we have been removed from Special Measures and have had four conditions on our license lifted."