Wye Valley NHS Trust out of special measures

Wye Valley NHS Trust runs Hereford County Hospital

A hospital trust branded inadequate by inspectors two years ago has been taken out of special measures.

The action was taken against Wye Valley NHS Trust, which runs Hereford County Hospital, after a visit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2014.

A follow-up inspection earlier this year concluded the trust had improved. It is now rated as "requiring improvement".

The trust said the outcome was "great news for residents".

Chief executive Richard Beeken said: "The report confirms that substantial improvements have been made in many areas."

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The trust has been supported by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust since the beginning of the year.

In a statement it said it was "exploring options to put this support on to a more formal footing".

The CQC highlighted a number of areas where the trust still was not up to scratch in the latest inspection, including reporting practices and the time it took for patients to get surgery.

But Sir Mike Richards, CQC's chief inspector of hospitals, said there had been "significant improvement".

He said: "There clearly remain areas where further work is needed, in particular with regard to the trust's responsiveness in A&E, bed occupancy concerns and referral to treatment times, but we found considerable and positive change had taken place."

The original inspection in 2014 criticised medical care and A&E at Hereford and said it was not always safe and "regularly breached" national targets.

Inspectors also said there was "no clear leadership" as well as insufficient staff and unsafe conditions, particularly at weekends.