York Hospital has made “significant improvements” and “addressed the recommendations” of a damning report which found that patients were at risk of harm, the trust that runs it said.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was providing an update on the situation at the hospital, which is the trust’s largest, after Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors rated it ‘inadequate’ in a report published in June 2023, following their inspection the previous October.

Last year the inspectors also found that the trust as a whole needed to improve, giving it the overall rating of ‘requires improvement’.

“In the time since the CQC’s visits we have made significant improvements and have addressed the recommendations outlined in the reports,” a trust spokesperson told The Press.

This update comes after national newspapers – including the Daily Mail – reported that York Hospital was one of the worst in England.

The spokesperson said the reports by national newspapers were based on the findings by CQC inspections in late 2022, which have not been updated as there had not been an inspection since.

“The reports in the Daily Mail are based on overall hospital ratings from York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s last CQC report, which was published in June 2023, following inspections that took place in late 2022 and early 2023,” they said. “These ratings are not updated until further inspection takes place.”

The CQC could not say when the hospital would next be inspected as prior notice is not given.

But a spokesperson told The Press: “As with all health and social care services where we find unsafe and ineffective care, we continue to monitor York Hospital closely to keep people safe while they make the improvements, we have told them to.

“If, as part of that monitoring, which includes inspections, we’re not satisfied people are receiving safe care, we won’t hesitate to take action in line with our regulatory powers. 

“We’d encourage anyone who has concerns about a health and social care service to let us know. This can be done by using the give feedback on care form on our website or via our customer service centre on 03000 616161.”  

Hospital bosses welcomed CQC's findings after inspection

After the report was published last year, York Hospital bosses welcomed the CQC’s findings, explaining that, like the rest of the NHS, they have been under “sustained pressure which has impacted our ability to consistently provide the standard of care we all want”.

CQC inspectors visited both York and Scarborough hospitals and highlighted “dirty equipment and premises” in urgent and emergency care, as well as “clinical waste not being managed appropriately” – and warned that there was not a culture in which staff always felt able to raise concerns.

Recommended reading:

The inspectors rated maternity services at both York and Scarborough as ‘inadequate’.

Emergency care in York was also rated inadequate, while medical care was rated ‘requires improvement’.

The inspectors stressed, however, that most hospital staff “treated people with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and took account of their individual needs”.