AN NHS trust which runs three hospitals has been told it still “requires improvement” to ensure the safe care and treatment of patients.

Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which is behind Dewsbury and District, Pinderfields and Pontefract hospitals, was the subject of an unannounced Care Quality Commission inspection over five days in March and April.

Today, the CQC has revealed its findings – announcing that the overall rating for the trust, as well as for being safe and responsive remained rated as requires improvement.

Inspectors found that despite positive changes and efforts to bring in improvements, these were not consistent and not having the level of impact needed.

Hospital bosses have responded by saying that the CQC report shows areas of “substantial improvement at the Trust in the most challenging of circumstances” and that they were disappointed that the overall rating remains at requires improvement.

They do not feel this reflects “the extraordinary commitment” of staff to improving services since the last inspection in 2018.

The inspection also resulted in both Dewsbury and District Hospital and Pinderfields Hospital remaining requires improvement. In both sites medical care dropped from good to requires improvement, urgent and emergency service remain as requires improvement.

Maternity at Dewsbury and District Hospital remains good, while at Pinderfields Hospital the department improved from requires improvement to good.

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC head of hospital inspection, said: “When we inspected The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, staff were working hard under sustained pressure to deliver patient care. We found there had been a number of positive changes at board level, and the leadership team were trying to implement a number of improvements.

"However, at the time of our inspection the improvements that had been put in place, weren’t consistently embedded or having a significant positive impact on people’s experiences and more needs to be done, especially around managing patient flow through the hospitals.

“The trust must ensure that they make the necessary improvements and work closely with system partners to improve patient flow into and out of the hospitals. We will keep a close eye on progress and will return to ensure that the required improvements are made.”

The Trust’s chief executive, Len Richards, added that the inspection took place when patient numbers were “extremely high” and emergency departments, as well as medical wards, were “very congested” which “clearly impacted on the demands on our staff”.

“With this in mind, we fully accept the CQC’s findings that patient flow through our hospitals is not all it should be. Our staff continue to work extremely hard to find creative solutions to a situation over which we have limited control, and to deliver patient care to as high a standard as possible despite the sustained pressure they are working under, as we also recover from the impact of the pandemic.”

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Sign up to our newsletter to get updates sent straight to your inbox.

Have you got a story for us? Email newsdesk@telegraphandargus.co.uk, contact us here, WhatsApp us on 07720403052 or call us on 01274 705292.