United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust returns to special measures

Grantham A&E started closing at night in August

A Lincolnshire hospital trust is to return to special measures after an NHS watchdog found "deterioration across a number of services".

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust should be rated inadequate following its latest inspection during October.

The inspection included hospitals in Lincoln, Grantham and Boston.

The trust said it was disappointed but accepted the findings of the report.

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The CQC inspected Lincoln County Hospital, Grantham Hospital and Pilgrim Hospital in Boston.

At Pilgrim Hospital, inspectors had "significant concerns in medical care and outpatients".

Jan Sobieraj, the trust's chief executive said: "The safety and quality of patient care is our number one priority. We're disappointed with some of the findings in the report but we are taking them very seriously.

"We are sorry... we know this isn't good enough."

Many issues raised by the commission had since been resolved, he said.

The trust was one of 11 NHS trusts placed into special measures in July 2013 as part of a review of high mortality rates.

It left special measures in February 2015.

Prof Sir Mike Richards, the Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "Having seen improvements to patient care previously, we are disappointed that our latest inspection found these improvements had not been sustained and there had been an overall deterioration in quality and patient safety."

The plan must be to ensure patients receive safe, high-quality and compassionate care at all times, he said.