Urgent and emergency care services at University Hospital Aintree were upgraded from inadequate to good, while emergency care at New Royal Liverpool University Hospital moved up from requires improvement to good.

Karen Knapton, CQC deputy director of operations in the North West, said: ‘In both services, people told us about their positive experience of the care and treatment they'd received. They felt staff treated them with compassion and kindness and communicated clearly to them about their care and treatment, so they could make informed decisions about their care.'

While praising the trust's ‘significant improvements', Knapton noted people faced long waiting times for urgent and emergency care beds and when being handed over to hospital staff when they arrived by ambulance.

He said the trust was aware of these concerns, adding inspectors had been told about improvements being made to address these issues.

Peter Turkington, executive managing director of Aintree University Hospital, said: ‘This report speaks volumes about the dedication and resilience of our teams in delivering high-quality patient care. It's a significant achievement to improve their rating from inadequate to good, particularly following an inspection during a very busy winter, and our teams should be very proud of this.

‘I'm pleased the CQC recognised our work with system partners to enhance services and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

‘While challenges remain around patient flow in the emergency department and timely admissions, we're working with local authorities and social care providers to speed up safe discharges and improve overall patient experience.'