FAILINGS in health and safety standards at East Midlands Ambulance Service have again been highlighted, this time by a survey of staff.

Last year, Government inspectors found dirt in a number of ambulances and criticised the service for failing to properly train its staff in infection control.

It was only after three inspections over a period of four months that the service was judged up to standard.

Now a survey of staff has revealed that only 27% of employees were given health and safety training in 2009. The national average was 52%.

The findings were revealed during an annual national survey of staff from all the NHS trusts in the country.

A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said the survey showed improvements since last year in areas including work-life balance, support from immediate managers and staff satisfaction.

She said: "Since the survey was taken, we have been able to boost the amount of training time that either is available to each member of staff now or will be during the year.

"Training has been taking place and we have been delivering it in new and innovative ways.

"For example, our workbooks on infection prevention and control have received favourable comment from many frontline staff."

The other NHS trusts which operate in Derbyshire and took part in the survey were the two organisations which oversee local healthcare – NHS Derby City and NHS Derbyshire County – and the trusts responsible for Derby's hospitals and the county's mental health services. Another key finding of the survey locally was high levels of violence against staff working for NHS Derbyshire County.

The number of staff experiencing physical violence from patients and relatives was 10%, compared to a national average of 6%. The Government body which published the survey – the Care Quality Commission – highlighted this as an area in which the trust performed badly relative to other trusts.

Problems with violence has been an ongoing issue for the trust, with the Derby Telegraph reporting two years ago that the number of attacks was three times the national average.

Health bosses say this is because the organisation is one of very few primary care trusts to offer both learning disability and mental health services, which is where the majority of incidents happen.

Nobody from the trust was available for comment.

Positive findings at NHS Derbyshire County included that it had a low number of staff intending to leave their jobs and high numbers of staff recommending it as a place to work or receive treatment.

Click here to read 'Bullying in hand'.