Urgent and emergency staff at Royal Stoke University Hospital are facing ‘extremely challenging' conditions, the CQC has said.

The comments came as the watchdog issued a renewed rating of requires improvement for the service run by The University Hospital of North Midlands (UHNM) NHS Trust.

Ann-Marie Riley, UHNM chief nurse, said: ‘Delivering safe, high-quality care to people in our emergency departments is a top priority and we work closely with all our teams in our hospitals to ensure patients receive the most appropriate care possible at all times.

‘This report is based on an inspection more than 10 months ago and a number of improvements have been made since that time. We are committed to continually improving services for our patients so they receive the highest standards possible.'

Inspectors found a considerable increase in ambulance handover delays of over 60 minutes from April 2023 to January 2024.

While people could access the service when they needed to, they did not always receive care promptly.

The service did not always have suitable facilities and equipment to safely meet the needs of people and their families.

The CQC said leaders had discussed how to extend the corridor of the emergency room and open more beds on wards to help with flow.

People reported staff treated them will with kindness and safety huddles were held throughout the day to discuss patients' care.

Staff also completed psychosocial and risk assessments for people at risk of self-harm or suicide and worked closely with the local mental health trust to support them.

The University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust provides acute hospital services for over 1.1m people in Staffordshire, South Cheshire and Shropshire.