The overall rating for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust improved from inadequate to requires improvement following inspections in October and November 2023.

Charlotte Rudge, CQC deputy director of operations for the Midlands, said staff ‘now felt proud to work for the trust', noting a ‘shift in culture' with people feeling safer to speak up when they saw something was not right.

The inspections covered services provided by the trust's Princess Royal Hospital and Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Improvements were found at the Princess Royal Hospital in the areas of children and young people's services (inadequate to good) and maternity (requires improvement to good), however, medical care was re-rated requires improvement and urgent and emergency care declined from requires improvement to inadequate.

At The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital improvement was found with urgent and emergency care (inadequate to requires improvement) while medical care was once again rated requires improvement. End of life care at both hospitals improved from inadequate to good.

Overall trust ratings for being safe and responsive improved from inadequate to requires improvement, with caring improving from requires improvement to good. Effective and well-led were re-rated requires improvement.

While noting improvements in maternity and children and young people's services, Rudge said there remained ‘some areas of concern', including managing the health of people waiting to be seen in urgent and emergency care, overcrowding and a lack of flow through departments contributing to ‘delays in staff being able to quickly identify and take action when people's health was at risk of deteriorating'.

Louise Barnett, chief executive of The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, said: ‘The report reinforces the work still to do and we will build on our progress and incorporate the learning into our approach. We will continue to build a trust that everyone is proud to work for and would recommend as a place to receive care.

‘We are committed to working with and listening to feedback from our patients, communities, partners and colleagues as we enter this next phase on our improvement journey.'