Significant improvement means Lincolnshire’s hospitals come out of ‘special measures’

It has today been confirmed that United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) is being taken out of ‘special measures’, following a recent CQC report which found widespread improvements across the Trust.

ULHT was placed into special measures (now known as the national Recovery Support Programme) in 2017, following concerns around financial management and quality of care.

Since then, extensive work has taken place to improve both the quality of care that is provided to patients, and financial management within the Trust.

The latest CQC report on the Trust, published last month, increased its ratings for being effective and well-led from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’. The rating around safety and responsiveness remained as ‘Requires Improvement’ and the rating for caring remained as ‘Good’.

As a result of improvements seen, the CQC recommended that the Trust be moved out of the Recovery Support Programme. It has now been confirmed by NHS England and NHS Improvement that the Trust will exit the Recovery Support Programme with immediate effect.

ULHT Chief Executive, Andrew Morgan, said: “We are delighted that the decision has been made to move us out of special measures. This is in recognition of the huge amount of work that our amazing staff have done to improve the quality of care for our patients in recent years and the improvement in financial governance and control that we have achieved.

“We are grateful for the intensive support that we have received as part of special measures over the years. We know that there is still work to do, but lots of exciting developments are already underway and I am confident that that we will now continue to go from strength to strength.”

The 2021/22 NHS System Oversight Framework (SOF) required Trusts and Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to be evaluated and placed into one of four categories – known as segments 1,2,3 and 4. Those organisations placed in segments 3 and 4 have been receiving mandated support from NHS England and NHS Improvement. Those in segment 4, including ULHT, received mandated intensive support delivered through the nationally co-ordinated Recovery Support Programme.

Oliver Newbould, Director of Intensive Support and Director of Strategic Transformation for NHS England and NHS Improvement in the Midlands, said: “We have been working closely with the leadership team at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, so we appreciate the enormous efforts they have been making to deliver the improvements required at the Trust. We agree with the CQC that significant progress has been made in spite of the many challenges faced by the NHS in last couple of years.”