THE Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) has passed an independent inspection despite three minor concerns.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) spent three days at several ambulance stations, hospital A&E and outpatient departments observing procedures, as well as talking with patients and staff.

In its report the CQC, which carried out its inspection last December, acknowledged the positive perception of ambulance service crews but also found three concerns.

The concerns were; arrangements for the prevention and control of infection at one unidentified ambulance station were not adequate, only half of the service’s 1,700 staff had an appraisal within the last 12 months and another ambulance station had fire risk issues.

GWAS chief executive Ken Wenman said the ambulance service welcomed the findings.

He said: "Seeing the unanimously positive comments about our staff from patients and other healthcare organisations is very welcome – but not surprising; in the short time I have been with GWAS, I have seen the absolute commitment of all staff to doing their very best for the many hundreds of patients we help on a daily basis."

Liam Williams, GWAS director of nursing and the trust lead for CQC registration, said the concerns raised by the CQC were being dealt with.

He said: "The CQC identified three issues as ‘minor concerns’ which we have taken extremely seriously. We addressed the concerns regarding the station immediately and have put steps in place to address the uptake of appraisals."

According to Mr Williams since the inspection a message to all staff concerning appraisals has been issued and the rate for annual appraisals has risen to 70 per cent. He added there had been follow-up visits by trust clinical leads to the stations mentioned in the report.

GWAS provides emergency and urgent care and patient transport services across Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and the former county of Avon. Last year the service responded to more than 264,000 emergency calls.

To read the CQC’s findings in full visit http://www.cqc.org.uk/directory/rx5hq