Major improvements identified at the Trust in charge of Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Goole hospitals

Inspectors say serious failings at the Trust that runs Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Goole hospitals have now been addressed and it's ready to leave special measures.

The Care quality commission has identified significant improvements in areas like safety and tackling waiting lists.

The hard work of staff has been praised.

In a statement the Trust said:

Published today, the report recognises our efforts to improve leadership, culture, safety, complaints and to tackle our waiting lists.

Inspectors said they saw many good examples of patients receiving compassionate care, with staff ensuring patients privacy and dignity was maintained and it was evident that staff worked hard to achieve the best possible outcomes for people throughout the services they inspected.

The CQC found ‘outstanding practice’ in our diagnostic imaging services, recognised improvements in many services, including A&E, maternity and surgery, and raised the rating to ‘Good’ for all our outpatient services, Scunthorpe’s diagnostic services and the whole of Goole hospital.

They report staff feel more valued, respected and supported compared to the previous inspection and noted most people were happy with the care provided.

The Trust is no longer rated ‘Inadequate’ for safety in any of its services and has maintained its ‘Requires Improvement’ rating.

Scunthorpe General Hospital and the Diana Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby are both rated ‘Requires improvement’ and Goole and District Hospital is rated ‘Good’ overall.

Our community services were not inspected on this occasion.

The CQC grade our services across our three hospitals in 112 ‘service domains’; we saw improvements across 35 of these ‘service domains’ and saw a reduced grading in only 2.

We spoke to Chief Executive Peter Reading who told us:

"Our staff have been working extremely hard to change the ways we work and improve the quality of care."

"This report recognises improvements made across a whole range of areas."

"Improvements in patient safety, quality, leadership and the way we run things."

However he's warning they, like all hospitals are facing a very difficult winter.

• northern lincolnshire and goole hospitals trust
• Grimsby