Newcastle Hospitals rated ‘outstanding’ by CQC

Newcastle Hospitals has been rated ‘outstanding’ for the second time in a row by the independent health and social care regulator the Care Quality Commission.

In retaining the best-possible rating, the trust is celebrating being just one of five in the country – and the largest NHS organisation – to receive the accolade twice. In total, six of nine key service areas – urgent and emergency services, surgery, critical care, maternity, end of life care and services for children and young people – are now rated outstanding, which is two more than at the last inspection.

The CQC focused on management and found that ‘leaders had an inspiring shared purpose, which, encouraged compassionate, inclusive and supportive relationships among staff so that they felt respected, valued and supported’.

Jackie Daniel, chief executive of the trust, said: “We are all incredibly proud to receive such positive recognition from the CQC. It really is an amazing achievement and down to each and every member of staff who work tirelessly, day in and day out, for our patients.

“Newcastle Hospitals is very much a team; staff care deeply about the work they do and it’s their compassion, commitment and their energy to change and innovate that makes our organisation so special. While an outstanding rating shows the hard work taking place, we’ve also made improvements in some key service areas since our last inspection including the Emergency Department and End of Life Care, which reflects our culture of continuous improvement.

 “The most important thing for us is that our patients and wider community have confidence in their local health services and this fantastic rating endorses the all-round quality of care we provide and reaffirms our position as one of the UK’s top hospital trusts. We will maintain and build on these high standards so we can support our staff to deliver even better care and outcomes for patients.”