The service provided by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust has been judged "fair" overall by a health watchdog.

But the trust has scored the lowest rating of "poor" in some areas.

The report has been released by the Healthcare Commission, which has carried out a comprehensive review of 69 NHS trusts across the UK providing acute inpatient mental health services.

Today, the trust's chief executive Karen Bell said a raft of improvements – including training to cut the risk of assaults on staff – had been put in place.

She added that new facilities, including a state-of-the-art building on the Edith Cavell site, in Peterborough, would boost patient care further.

Mrs Bell said: "We received a fair rating for our acute care services.

"However, this was a strong fair as we were just one point away from a good rating.

"We are satisfied with the score, but aim to achieve good or excellent on our next assessment."

The trust scored good on patient admissions and time spent in hospital, quality of service, and the involvement of patients in planning their care.

It scored fair on ensuring the safety of patients, staff and visitors.

Within those categories, it achieved the lowest grade for involving patients and carers in treatment plans and decisions about their care and staff training to deal with patients who use drugs – being rated poor.

Mrs Bell said: "We have undertaken a huge amount of work in the trust to change the way that we involve patients in planning their care, including making choices about how care is delivered.

"Service users are regularly involved and receive a personal folder explaining the care plan we have agreed with them."

The best-performing trusts were Dudley Primary Care Trust and Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Trust.

Chief executive of the Healthcare Commission Anna Walker said some trusts could provide excellent services but the variation in quality was not acceptable.