OVERWORKED paramedics for South Western Ambulance Service are struggling with their physical and mental health as they work “flat-out.”

That is the view of Unison chief Chris Nelson following the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) report that gave the service a ‘requires improvement’ rating in its latest inspection.

However it was rated 'outstanding' for providing a caring service, and 'good' for being responsive.

"As demand for emergency care grows year by year, our ambulance services have never been busier," said Professor Sir Mike Richards, chief inspector of hospitals.

"The trust has a strong and stable leadership team, which has put quality and safety as key priorities and has organised the staff and resources well across a wide geographic area, responding well, on the most part, to the most urgent calls, and working closely with other NHS providers to maximise the effectiveness of the service."

He said staff in emergency operations centres and urgent services were "outstanding in the way they supported people who were distressed or overwhelmed".

However, he said: "During the inspection we identified a number of areas for improvement which we have passed on to the trust and to local commissioners. Our inspectors will return at a later date to check on their progress."

Inspectors found "good organisation and distribution of staff and services", and in the 19 months until January 2016 the trust was better than the national average for responding within eight minutes to Red I calls - calls to the service which were immediately life threatening such as cardiac arrest.

However, they found "staff morale and motivation was mixed" with a "significant" proportion of front line ambulance staff saying they "felt unwell due to work-related stress or had experienced musculoskeletal problems as a result of work activities".

Also many had staff suffered physical violence or harassment from members of the public.

After the report was published, Chris Nelson, co-secretary for Unison SW ambulance service branch, said staff were working "flat-out".

Mr Nelson said: "All our staff in the ambulance service are working flat-out to maintain standards across the board.

"Our members are committed public service workers who want to see the best possible care for their patients. Their caring and dedicated work in an incredibly challenging environment was rightly praised by the CQC.

“While services can and should improve, funding is simply inadequate to reach the standards we all want.

"Staff will continue to make the best of what they’ve got, but without additional resources into ambulance services, demand on our members is just too high.

“The report highlights mental and physical health problems among ambulance service workers. Unless the government allocates more funding and staffing, there’s a risk that quality will take another hit.

“World-class public services need real investment in the people who carry them out, not ever-increasing demands on overstretched staff.

“We have already started planning in partnership with management and the CQC to deal with issues in the report, despite the government’s refusal to provide enough funding.”

SWAS chief executive Ken Wenman said the 'outstanding' care rating for staff based in clinical hubs handling 999 calls, ambulance crews and first responders was "well deserved" and recognised "amazing patient care delivered every day".

"We make every effort to encourage feedback from patients and I’m assured that the CQC inspection team, without exception, received only positive comments from patients, something I’m told is almost unheard of," he said.

"Where there are specific lessons to be learnt from the report we will of course take the necessary actions to make positive changes and improvements," he said.

The trust says that since the inspection it has agreed a more proactive approach to staff training, reminded staff to report all incidents of aggression and enhanced its staff support services.

Responding to the report, UNISON's SWAS branch said the government must allocate "more funding and staffing" to the service or risk a decline in quality and the health of existing staff.

SWAS was subject to controversy earlier this year when a whistleblower revealed images of staff apparently asleep on the job at its NHS 111 service call centre in St Leonards. This service was rated as 'inadequate' in June.