CQC publishes Morecambe Bay investigation report

Our investigation highlights concerns but notes positive response from the trust.

We began our investigation into the delivery of emergency care at two of the trust’s hospitals - Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Furness General Hospital - in January 2012.

Our investigation allowed us to take an in-depth look at the care patients received as they entered the hospitals and the care they received afterwards.

Our findings show that patients are still at risk of receiving poor care, however, recent changes to the management of the trust have resulted in positive actions to address many of the issues highlighted in our investigation report. We will review these changes to test their impact on people that receive care.

We found that:

• patients were waiting too long to be seen.
• patients were accommodated in mixed sex wards.
• both hospitals were not meeting the national target to admit, discharge or transfer 95 per cent of patients within four hours of their admission.
• both hospitals were not working together and had limited plans for cross-site working.
• staffing levels were inadequate.

The trust as a whole must now firm up leadership and systems to improve governance and the way care is provided.

We will conduct a formal review of how the trust has addressed the recommendations detailed in the investigation report in six months.