ESSEX Ambulance Service NHS Trust has been awarded two stars in the Department of Health's performance ratings, indicating that it has performed well in many areas but has scope for improvement.
Chief executive Gron Roberts said: "Having always been a leading edge organisation, we are naturally a little disappointed that we did not achieve a three star rating.
"But an analysis of our performance shows that we are still one of the top performing ambulance trusts in respect of all the key targets, especially those that are clinical and patient focussed."
He added that the star rating system looks at a wider range of criteria and showed that the trust had "clear scope to improve, particularly in the areas of staff sickness and staff attitude survey".
Mr Roberts said: "Our staff are working extremely hard to provide high standards of patient services and we now need to work jointly with them in addressing these issues."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article