The overall rating for children and young people's services at Kidderminster Hospital was upgraded from requires improvement to good.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital's stroke services remain requires improvement overall but how effective the service is was upgraded from requires improvement to good.

Craig Howarth, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: ‘We were pleased that leaders at the trust had taken on board our feedback from the previous inspection and used it to improve children's services at Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre. The improvements we found were reflected in the positive experiences children, young people, parents and carers told us that they had in both outpatient services and surgery.

‘We also saw some small improvements in the effectiveness of the trust's stroke care, on the medical wards at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. People told us they were satisfied with their care and treatment.'

Sarah Shingler, chief nursing officer for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘Teams across our hospitals work incredibly hard, often in very challenging circumstances, to offer the best care for all our patients. 

"To see those efforts reflected and recognised by the CQC with these improved ratings is a great morale boost for our children's and stroke teams.  I hope it will also help to reassure our patients that we are committed to doing everything we can to improve the safety, quality, and efficiency of the care we provide across all our services.

‘As well as highlighting the progress we have made, today's reports also make suggestions for further improvements. We welcome those suggestions and have already begun developing action plans that will help make our services even better.'