CQC upgrades Isle of Wight Ambulance Service following improvements

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has upgraded two services at Isle of Wight Ambulance Service from requires improvement to good following inspections in February.

The emergency operations centre and patient transport service have both been upgraded to good, while urgent and emergency care has retained its good rating.

Isle of Wight Ambulance Service is run by Isle of Wight NHS Trust and serves an island population of around 140,000 people. The population has a higher proportion of people aged over 65 than the national average.

CQC inspected urgent and emergency care, the emergency operations centre and patient transport service to assess progress since its previous inspections.

At the emergency operations centre, the effective and well-led ratings improved from requires improvement to good, while safe, caring and responsive were re-rated good. Inspectors highlighted the support provided to people in distress and found staff took steps to protect people’s dignity.

CQC also found leaders were focused on meeting the needs of people across the island, including those living in more remote locations. An extensive network of community first responders could be dispatched to provide lifesaving treatment and support while people waited for ambulance crews to arrive.

Staff at the emergency operations centre were also working proactively with partners to support people with mental health needs, although CQC found that access to external specialist mental health support was not always available.

Urgent and emergency care was again rated good, with its well-led rating improving from requires improvement to good. Safe, effective, caring and responsive were all re-rated good.

Inspectors found ambulance response times had improved. The average response time for a category 1 call had fallen to eight minutes, compared with 10 minutes in November 2025.

CQC found staff treated people with kindness and respect and took time to reassure people who were anxious. Inspectors also highlighted the service’s focus on learning and innovation. This included the development of a new safeguarding referral process designed to take less staff time and allow more staff to respond to emergency calls.

Staff understood how to identify adults and children who may be at risk and acted on safeguarding concerns. In one case observed by inspectors, paramedics taking someone to hospital also took action to protect a vulnerable adult who was remaining at home.

The patient transport service was also upgraded to good. Its safe and well-led ratings improved from requires improvement to good, while effective and responsive were re-rated good. Caring moved from outstanding to good.

CQC said feedback about patient transport was consistently positive, with people describing a caring and compassionate service where they were treated with dignity.

The service had agreements with ferry providers to maintain reliable transport links with the mainland, helping to address the increased risk of delayed care associated with the island’s location.

Inspectors also found staff considered people’s wider wellbeing when taking them home. Examples included making people a cup of tea or turning on their heating to ensure they were safely settled.

Care was also tailored for people living with dementia, including through calm communication, dementia training and the use of patient passports to help reduce distress.

The latest findings show improvements across the ambulance service, with all three areas inspected now rated good.

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