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King's Lynn hospital: Care Quality Commission finds improvement

Qays Najm/BBC Caroline Shaw, chief executive at The Queen Elizabeth at King's LynnQays Najm/BBC
Caroline Shaw, chief executive at the Queen Elizabeth, said the hospital's improvement was achieved in the face of adversity

A previously struggling hospital is to come out of special measures after inspectors found "fantastic improvements" had been made.

The Queen Elizabeth at King's Lynn was found to be "inadequate" and put into special measures in 2018 by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC's latest inspection rated the hospital as "requires improvement".

Trust chief executive Caroline Shaw praised staff as she described the "tremendous" turnaround.

The new rating comes amid ongoing concerns about the safety of the 40 year old hospital building, which currently has 470 props supporting its roof.

Roofing prop holding up the roof at the hospital
The hospital has improved despite disruption caused by safety work as hundreds of props support its roof

The CQC made an unannounced visit in December and returned the following month.

Some aspects of the hospital, including its care and leadership, were rated "good" by inspectors.

Fiona Allinson, CQC deputy chief inspector for hospitals, said: "I am pleased to see significant improvements have been made right across the trust in the care given to patients resulting in a number of its services being rated good.

"More importantly there's been a significant increase in the quality of care being given to people in Norfolk using these services.

"CQC will continue to monitor the trust, to ensure these fantastic improvements are embedded and further improvements are made."

Ms Shaw said the improved CQC rating was the result of "really hard work from every single member [of staff] in the last three years.

"This report talks about putting patients first and staff engagement is rated as good for well led," she said. "But we know there's still a lot more to do.

"We've actually achieved this through two years of what's been the worst history of the NHS, a global pandemic."

Jill Bennett/BBC Ward manager Michelle Greer from the Queen Elizabeth HospitalJill Bennett/BBC
Ward manager Michelle Greer said the staff were "so happy" the hospital had come out of special measures

Ward manager Michelle Greer said staff felt "so proud" of how far they had come over the last few years.

"I've been here many years and I've seen the ups and the downs, but where we are at the minute is amazing," she said.

"All the staff are so happy and we needed to hear this, we needed to come out of special measures."

'Propped up'

Speaking about the ongoing safety work, Ms Shaw said the props could prove frightening to patients.

"Some of our patients actually said on one ward the other night they didn't want to close their eyes because they were scared of the props," she said.

Qays Najm/BBC Roofing props holding up the roof at the hospitalQays Najm/BBC
In total, the hospital has 470 props supporting its roof

During a Parliamentary debate in November 2021, local Conservative MP James Wild referred to the Queen Elizabeth as "the most propped hospital in the country".

Ms Shaw said the roof was checked every day but added the "next ambition is to have a new hospital on the Queen Elizabeth site".

The hospital trust has submitted a bid to build a new hospital.

A decision is expected in the Spring or "early in the new financial year", said Ms Shaw.

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