Hospital bosses in Newcastle are awaiting the results of a fresh review, almost two years on from a highly critical report.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) downgraded the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ in 2024, with the watchdog demanding change after its inspectors found bullying complaints, concerns for patient safety and a “significant deterioration” in leadership.
The trust, which runs the Freeman Hospital and Royal Victoria Infirmary, has since made a series of management changes as part of an action plan for improvements.
While inspectors had been expected to return this year, city health chiefs told councillors on Thursday that Newcastle Hospitals had “moved down the CQC risk profile” and that a reinspection is not likely in the near future.
However, local NHS bosses have instead commissioned a separate independent review of the trust’s leadership to test what progress has been made.
That inquiry, led by auditors Grant Thornton, will focus on the hospitals’ family health services, surgical and associated services, and cardiothoracics. Its findings are expected this month, members of Newcastle City Council’s health scrutiny committee heard on Thursday.
The Freeman’s cardiothoracic surgery unit has come in for specific criticism, with staff having alleged there has been a history of “bullying, intimidating and punishing staff who speak up over patient safety concerns” and of serious incidents being “deliberately covered up”.
A former Freeman heart surgeon, Fabrizio De Rita, was struck off the medical register last year after allegations of sexual harassment.
And there have been calls in recent weeks for a new investigation into the unit after “more than a dozen” former patients or relatives came forward concerned by treatment they believe may have led to death or health complications, following an investigation into the practice of surgeon Karen Booth.
A new code of conduct has been implemented in the department since the CQC inspection.
In September 2024, restrictions imposed by the CQC on the trust – requiring it to make certain improvements and submit monthly reports to prove it was making progress – were lifted after the watchdog was satisfied that sufficient improvement was being made.
Ian Joy, Newcastle Hospitals executive director of nursing, told Thursday’s council meeting that there had been “some concern” recently over a surge in surgical never events – errors that are wholly preventable.
However, he said the incidents had been of “low harm” to patients and were not related to each other.
Councillors were also presented with figures showing how the trust’s elective care waiting list had fallen from 102,763 in July 2024 to 89,130 12 months later.
Patrick Garner, its director of performance and governance, added that the hospitals are “in line with the plan” to make £106 million worth of budget savings in the current financial year.
