North Lincs and Goole NHS Trust still requires improvement, says CQC

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust still requires improvement, say inspectors

A health trust which runs hospitals in Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole has been told it must improve further.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors visited Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) in June and July.

Overall, the trust retained its "requires improvement" grading, as inspectors highlighted delays for emergency care and staff shortages.

Chief executive Peter Reading said the trust was now "much closer" to "good".

The trust, which has been in special measures since 2017, has around 750 beds spread across its three hospitals - Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, Goole and District Hospital and Scunthorpe General Hospital.

Inspectors scrutinised five areas - Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well Led.

The trust scored "good" across the board for Caring, while the other areas were rated "requires improvement".

Staff shortages and delays for emergency care were highlighted by inspectors

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC's head of hospital inspection, said inspectors found leadership had improved since the last visit in 2019, but that more work was required to embed measures across the whole organisation.

"The board had identified where they needed to make changes to improve both people's experience of services and the culture within the organisation, and for the changes to be reflected in positive outcomes for people," she said.

Ms Dronsfield said "across most services" inspectors found "there still wasn't enough staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to meet people's needs", adding this needed to be addressed "as a priority".

Additionally, inspectors found people still could not access urgent and emergency care services "when they needed it", and "continued to experience long delays for treatment".

Ambulance handover times were also long, said Ms Dronsfield, although she said "most people" were happy with the care provided, and "it was evident staff worked hard to achieve best possible outcomes".

'More to do'

Mr Reading thanked staff who "go above and beyond" for their patients, adding it was "really heartening to see a recognition of their efforts reflected".

Citing pressures stemming from the Covid pandemic and "huge demand" for its services, Mr Reading said retaining its "requires improvement" rating was "no mean feat".

He added: "We have improved in our safety ratings across the board and our staff can be proud that we are rated 'good' for caring in every service in all three hospitals.

"We know we have more to do; too many people are waiting too long for treatment, and we need to do more to recruit and retain staff."

The trust said it had "achieved what is necessary" to leave special measures, but was awaiting a response from NHS England.

A spokesman for NHS England said it would "work with the trust and system partners to review current Recovery Support Programme arrangements in the weeks ahead".