CQC has found that the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust is no longer inadequate across its services. Consequently it has recommended, within its recently published Inspection Report, that the Trust be removed from the Special Measure regime.
The Trust was placed in special measures in July 2013 following concerns over safety and management of its services. The Trust has been credited with making sufficient improvements to have its rating increased to ‘requires improvement’. This raised the Trust out of the remit of the Special Measures regime but it will still be supported in achieving its aims specifically in relation to its maternity services. This support that will be offered will be in the form of a partnership arrangement with another provider (not yet sourced) who can work with the Trust to address these concerns.
Commenting on the special measures regime and the Trust, Professor Sir Mike Richards said: –
“Special measures are designed to provide intensive support to struggling trusts and Morecambe Bay has clearly benefitted from this support. There is good evidence that the trust is heading in the right direction, however, I believe it will continue to benefit from on-going support.”
It is worth noting that of the three sites within the Trust, two were rated ‘Requires Improvement’ and one was rated ‘Good’. The public generally view such reports for the headline ratings and fail to delve deeper so good ratings for care provision can be lost in arbitrary calculations.
