Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust rated good by health watchdog

The trust runs North Manchester General, Royal Oldham, Fairfield and Rochdale Infirmary

An NHS trust rated inadequate three years ago has made significant improvements following a fresh inspection.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust promised to invest £30m in frontline services after a Care Quality Commission inspection in 2016.

The trust runs the Royal Oldham, Fairfield General, Rochdale Infirmary and North Manchester General hospitals.

It has now been rated "good", with end-of-life care found to be outstanding.

However, the health watchdog said waiting times and last-minute cancellations for surgery needed to improve, as did staff understanding and recording of people's mental capacity.

'Compassionate staff'

Inspectors visited the trust in September 2019 to assess urgent and emergency services, surgery, medical services, critical care, end-of-life care and community inpatient services.

They praised how end-of-life services engaged with religious communities to respect their wishes and a pop-up pharmacy that significantly improved discharge times.

The CQC also commended Rochdale Infirmary's dementia-friendly signage.

Raj Jain, chief executive at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group which runs the trust said he was "extremely proud" of its "caring and compassionate staff" who are "putting the patient experience at the heart of everything we do".

The inspection did not include maternity, children and young people's and outpatient services.