The London Ambulance Service has been rated as inadequate and is the first service in the country to be placed under special measures.

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, recommended on Friday (November 27) that London Ambulance Service NHS Trust should be placed into special measures following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

A team of inspectors found that the trust delivered services that were caring, but that improvements are reportedly needed on safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership.

The Care Quality Commission found a shortage of trained paramedics, with some junior staff sent out on the front line with little supervision.

Since May 2014 there had been a "significant" decline in the number of urgent calls attended in the target eight minutes.

The response time for the most urgent calls that are to be responded to within eight minutes, is the worst in the country according to the report.

Some black and minority ethnic staff also told the CQC that at times they felt “humiliated” and “ignored” by managers, with some claiming they were overlooked for promotion.

Some of the ambulance stations inspected by the CQC were even found covered in black dust and so were medical supplies.

'The Trust has been performing poorly on response times'

Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "I am recommending that London Ambulance Service be placed into special measures because I believe that this is the step necessary to ensure that this vital service - which provides emergency medical services to 8.6 million Londoners - gets the support it needs to improve.

"The Trust has been performing poorly on response times since March 2014.

"This is a very serious problem, which the trust clearly isn't able to address alone, and which needs action to put right.

"The leadership of LAS has told us that they have already taken action to address the issues we have raised, and we will be monitoring the service closely to ensure this continues.

“This is why I’m making a recommendation of special measures, triggering a process which gives LAS access to a package of additional resources and support.”

During the inspection, it was found that LAS delivered caring services however, with staff noted as being “overwhelmingly dedicated, hardworking and compassionate.”

'We are sorry we have fallen short'

Inspectors found that patients were treated with compassion, dignity and respect by staff often in difficult and distressing situations.

Staff were found to be dedicated and proud of their work, while being open and honest about the issues they faced.

Chief Executive for LAS, Dr Fionna Moore MBE, said: “While we are pleased that our caring and compassionate staff have been recognised in this report, we are sorry we have fallen short of some of the standards CQC and Londoners expect of us.

“As the newly appointed chief executive, I am, along with my leadership team, completely focussed on addressing the challenges highlighted in this report.

“We accept that we need to improve the way we measure and monitor some important standards and processes but we would like to reassure Londoners that we always prioritise our response to our most critically ill and injured patients and, in the event of a major incident, we are ready to respond and CQC recognise this.”