Improvements at the troubled Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust must speed up to satisfy the NHS regulator that sufficient change is underway.

The Care Quality Commission has published a second progress report on the trust, which in March received one of the most critical reports of recent years for its failings in care.

A review by the former regulator, the Healthcare Commission, found that “appalling” emergency care at the trust led to unnecessary deaths of patients because of a lack of staff and equipment.

In its new progress report, the Care Quality Commission said the trust was making progress but the pace of …