THE East of England Ambulance Service has had two conditions removed from its licence by care bosses after improvements were made.

It follows an inspection in 2020 which identified concerns around safeguarding of patients and staff which sparked action from the Care Quality Commission.

But at a targeted inspection last year, the CQC recognised marked improvement on “significant and long-standing cultural issues”.

As a result, the trust’s rating for leadership was upgraded from “inadequate” to “requires improvement”.

Gazette: Chief executive - Tom AbellChief executive - Tom Abell (Image: Newsquest)

The CQC has now removed conditions around reporting monthly on pre-employment checks and the frequency of renewal of Disclosure and Barring Service checks for staff within the organisation who have changed job roles or transferred from other services.

The move takes EEAST a step closer to coming out of special measures and shows greater confidence in the improvements being made.

EEAST chief executive Tom Abell said the decision is “very pleasing news”.

“We know there is still a lot that needs to be done and we will continue our work in making EEAST a great place to work and one that provides its communities with an excellent service,” he added.