The trust said it had taken ‘immediate actions' but had ‘more to do' following the report which found improvements on discrimination in recruitment and career progression ‘remained ineffective'.

A spokesperson from St George's University Hospital Trust, said: ‘Any member of staff not feeling heard or supported is one too many and we fully accept this rating is not where we want to be for our staff and local communities.'

The trust said it was ‘taking further steps to support and listen to our colleagues, while strengthening the diversity of our leadership teams'.

New leaders have been appointed at the trust since February, including a chief nurse, chief midwifery officer and incoming chief executive, after a number of colleagues moved on, to ensure safety concerns are heard and addressed.

The trust is also setting up a new ‘inclusive health board' to strengthen the diversity of leadership at senior level and provide a new perspective on addressing challenges.

Antoinette Smith, CQC deputy director of operations in London, said: ‘During our well-led inspection of St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we found senior leaders were committed to learning from and improving people's care, but were struggling to implement some of these improvements or change the trust's culture, which was very poor in places.

‘However, we also saw examples of great partnership working, such as improvements to people's care in urology, made particularly significant given long waits in urology nationally. St George's had also embarked on several projects to improve care in their local communities, such as by offering extra services for people with frailty-related conditions, and sought feedback from those communities.

‘We've shared our findings with the trust's management, and they've shown us their plans to address our concerns. We'll continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to ensure people are safe while the necessary improvements are made.'