The concerns, which were related to safe staffing, escalation when people were deteriorating, record keeping and learning from incidents, resulted in the trust being downgraded from good to inadequate for well-led and being issued with a warning notice.

Chris Storton, CQC deputy director of hospitals in the North East, said standards of care had deteriorated since the last inspection.

Noting there had been significant changes to the senior leadership team, he said some had the experience and capability required but others ‘lacked broader expertise'.

CDDFT chief executive Steve Russell was appointed in September 2025, with Kelly Angus named deputy chief executive in February 2026.

CDDFT pledged ‘organisation-wide change' in December 2025 following an independent report.

Russell said: ‘We have strengthened leadership, introduced safer staffing arrangements within surgical services, improved how we listen to and learn from patients and families, and strengthened oversight of quality and patient safety. While there is still more to do, we are already seeing progress in a number of areas.'