Community nurses working in Great Yarmouth and Waveney have been praised by their patients in a report.

East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) staff were subject to a routine inspection by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The inspection was in December, and the CQC found that all standards were being met.

ECCH's community nurses provides care to patients living in Great Yarmouth, Beccles, Lowestoft, Southwold, Halesworth and surrounding towns and villages.

Care is provided either in clinics or at home.

The service passed the CQC's requirements, meeting all five standards inspected.

These were: the care and welfare of people who use services, safeguarding people who use services from abuse, requirements relating to workers, assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision and complaints.

Inspectors observed leg ulcer clinics and spoke with six patients and three relatives to get their opinions.

They quizzed ECCH's staff, including the adult safeguarding lead and patient liaison manager to ensure themselves that services are being provided properly.

The CQC said in its report: 'As part of our inspection we spoke with six people who used the service and three relatives of people who used or had previously used the service. Everyone we spoke with complimented on the quality of the service they had received.'

Patients told the CQC inspectors:

'I have only the highest praise for the staff. They are polite and treat you with a caring manner.

'They are really terrific. I could not fault them. They deliver what they promise. If they are running late they telephone you to let you know.'

'I have no complaints. They are marvellous and so reliable.'

ECCH's director of nursing and professional standards, Elaine James, said: 'We are very pleased and proud that our patients have been so complimentary about our nurses and the NHS services they provide.

'Community nurses are sometimes the unsung heroes of the NHS.

'They care for members of our community, who are generally older and more ill, with great kindness and efficiency.

'They fully deserve this recognition.'