The South Western Ambulance Service Trust (SWAST), previously rated the worst in the country by the NHS, has now received good ratings for several parts of its service from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Inspectors from the CQC examined the trust's emergency and urgent care, emergency operations, resilience, urgent care and patient transport services between April and July. In December, the trust was rated lowest in the country by the NHS Oversight Framework.
Catherine Campbell from the CQC said: "We found people were receiving safe and effective care across the board."
The trust's emergency operations centres in Bristol and Exeter, which handle 999 calls, and its emergency and urgent care service were both rated outstanding for caring. SWAST typically responded to about 3,200 incidents a day during the summer months, but on its busiest day ever, in June, it handled 4,350 incidents.
SWAST serves the largest geographical area in the UK, covering remote parts of Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.
Chief executive Dr John Martin called the result a "fantastic achievement" that reflected the hard work of staff. He said: "In our strategy, we said that we wanted to be recognised as an improving organisation. These results are another important sign that we are beginning to see the impact of the significant time, effort and focus that has gone into making that ambition a reality. There is still work to do, and the CQC feedback will help us continue to learn and improve. But for now, there is plenty to be proud of."
Each department inspected by the CQC is rated on five qualities: safety, effectiveness, caring, responsiveness and leadership. Inspectors found the two emergency call centres in Bristol and Exeter were consistently above the national average for how quickly they answered 999 calls.
The overall rating for the emergency and urgent care service was upgraded from requires improvement to good. That service is no longer in breach of regulations relating to person-centred care, safe care and treatment, safe equipment and overall management.
However, more than 50% of staff reported feeling unwell due to work stress last year, and some said they got less than 15 minutes to recover from traumatic events, inspectors found.
Tiverton Urgent Treatment Centre in Devon was also evaluated and rated good overall. There, staff met targets to triage people within 15 minutes, helping to cut waiting times. The CQC also rated the trust's resilience as good overall.
Ambulance Trust Retains Good Rating Following Inspections