NHSE sends improvement director into struggling acute trust

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust, which spent 18 months in special measures midway through the last decade, is again now the subject of significant regulatory intervention from NHS England.

The regulator has appointed Simon Bennett as a board-level improvement director, which comes after he undertook a similar assignment at the struggling Stockport FT.

He will be supported by Jackie Bird, the recently departed chief nurse for NHSE’s regional directorate in the North West, and Damian Riley, who recently stood down as medical director at East Lancashire Hospitals Trust.

A “system improvement board” led by NHSE’s regional medical director, David Levy, will also oversee the provider, which includes officials from the Care Quality Commission and professional regulators, such as the General Medical Council.

It comes amid ongoing external investigations into the trust’s urology and trauma and orthopaedics specialties, where serious allegations have been made about attempts to cover up poor care.

The trust has a troubled history of care failings and regulatory intervention, including a major maternity scandal which culminated in the Kirkup Inquiry in the first half of the 2010s, and being placed in special measures in 2014.

It was widely recognised that positive progress was subsequently made to implement the inquiry recommendations and improve services, which culminated in the trust exiting special measures in late 2015, and being rated “good” by the CQC in early 2017.

However, the recent allegations and investigations have again brought regulatory intervention.

In a report to the trust board on 31 March, chief executive Aaron Cummins wrote: “Following a period of positive discussion with NHS England/Improvement, I am pleased to share that we have accepted an offer of support as we continue to deal with the ongoing pandemic, as well as a number of improvement plans that have resulted from various reviews and improvement programmes.”

He said the improvement team would support the trust to deliver recommendations from the urology and T&O investigations, as well as other major workstreams, such as an action plan resulting from a recent review by the Good Governance Institute, and a five-year review of progress against the Kirkup recommendations.