Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) has been re-rated requires improvement for urgent and emergency care Queen's Medical Centre.

In better news, however, NUH was re-rated good for medical care at Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital.

Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of hospitals in its central region, said: ‘When we visited Queen's Medical Centre's urgent and emergency care services, we found a department under pressure that was often caring for more people than it was designed for. Staff sometimes cared for people in corridors because there wasn't enough space and, as a result, they didn't always properly monitor people or provide effective handovers with colleagues.'

Tracy Pilcher, chief nurse at NUH, said: ‘The issues raised are known to us and we are working hard to address them. In particular, corridor care is not something we want in our hospitals, and it is absolutely not what we want for our patients. Delivering care in unacceptable spaces isn't right for our patients or for our staff, and we apologise to those who are in those environments. Our staff are working incredibly hard under tremendous pressure, and we are very grateful to them for what they do. 

‘There is much more to do on corridor care but there is no quick fix. We are listening and we are doing everything we can to make it better. We have introduced a new general internal medicine ward, and we are seeing positive outcomes from a programme of work to reduce length of stay.  At times of pressure, staff move to support teams in the emergency department, and we having open and honest conversations with colleagues, at board level and with regulators.'

Medical care rated good

In medical care, the CQC said staff ‘treated people with kindness and dignity, worked well with partner organisations to support people after they left hospital, and ran creative projects to improve people's experiences of care'.

Staff were praised for working well with community organisations to ensure care ran smoothly after patients left the hospital, and an open and inclusive culture where staff worked together to achieve the best outcomes. 

Pilcher added: ‘We are pleased the CQC has rated the medical care at both City Hospital and QMC as good across all domains. The ratings reflect the hard work and care of our colleagues in these services and should give confidence to the community that we serve about the level of care they can expect, and how they can expect to be treated in our hospitals.'