Significant improvements to services, patient care, leadership and governance made by teams across University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) have been highlighted in inspection reports, published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today (Friday 30 January 2026).
On 15, 16 and 17 July 2025, inspectors from the CQC carried out unannounced inspections of Maternity and Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) services at Furness General Hospital (FGH), Maternity services and UEC at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) and Maternity services at Westmorland General Hospital (WGH).
The CQC’s assessments show meaningful improvements across the services inspected, with most areas now rated as ‘Good’. Maternity services at all three hospitals have also been rated as ‘Good’ for the first time since 2017, reflecting sustained improvements and progress since previous inspections. The overall Trust rating remains ‘Requires Improvement’.
The inspectors identified many examples of excellent practice including:
- Patients regularly saying that colleagues across the departments treated them with kindness, dignity and respect
- An improved safety culture, with teams being more open, proactive and regularly sharing what they’ve learned from incidents
- Different professional groups worked well together as a team
- Improved staffing levels and training opportunities
- A strong commitment from colleagues and leaders to improving services, using data, audits and quality improvement to make changes
- The Frailty Team’s specialist support to deliver well-rounded care for older patients
- Easy to access patient information and health promotion resources
- Meaningful partnership working with other services and community teams
- High cleanliness standards and careful following of infection prevention measures
- Supporting colleague wellbeing, including access to Occupational Health and counselling
There were also areas identified for further improvements, including:
- Improving how medicines are stored, prescribed and monitored in some areas
- Increasing staffing levels and ensuring the right mix of skills in UEC and Maternity
- Continuing to improve how patients move through the hospitals to reduce delays
- Fixing outstanding issues with the environment and equipment
- Strengthening infection prevention and control practices in some areas
- Improving how well care is tailored to each individual person
- Increasing the number of colleagues who complete their appraisals
- Improving equality, diversity and inclusion across the workforce
- Continuing to strengthen governance systems so they stay effective and resilient in the long term
Royal Lancaster Infirmary
In Maternity services, inspectors noted better training compliance, stronger safeguarding, improved teamwork across different professions, and more involvement with women and families. Women said they felt confident in colleagues and had positive experiences during labour and after birth. Governance had improved since the last inspection, and leaders were described as “inclusive and engaged.” Work is underway to address issues with how medicines are managed.
In UEC, inspectors found progress in several areas, including the stroke pathway, mental health risk assessments and sepsis management. Colleagues were praised for treating patients with compassion, dignity and respect, and patients consistently highlighted the high quality of interpersonal care. Teams described strong teamwork and support from colleagues, and safeguarding practice was recognised as a strength. Key areas needing improvement include medicines management, paediatric ED staffing, governance processes and some environmental and layout issues in the Emergency Department.
Overall, the RLI is now rated ‘Good’. It received ‘Outstanding’ for caring; ‘Good’ for effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership; and ‘Requires Improvement’ for safety.
Furness General Hospital
Inspectors reported that Maternity services at FGH have made major improvements since the 2023 inspection, moving from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’ overall. All five domains (safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led) were rated ‘Good’. This was supported by positive feedback from women and families, and by evidence of stronger systems, a better culture and improved training.
The inspection also found a strong learning culture, better safeguarding practice and full incident reporting, including feedback to those who raise concerns. The service has stronger risk management processes, better infection control and consistently positive patient experiences across antenatal, labour and postnatal care. Colleagues said morale had improved, and women described them as caring, compassionate, attentive and respectful.
Areas that still need work include making person centred care more consistent, improving continuity of care, raising appraisal completion rates and strengthening equality, diversity and inclusion for colleagues.
FGH’s UEC services were rated ‘Good’ overall. Inspectors found that colleagues consistently delivered compassionate, person-centred care, and patients reported good experiences with communication, dignity and respect. The service performed well in national and local patient surveys, and colleagues demonstrated a proactive safety culture with effective incident reporting. Inspectors also highlighted strong multidisciplinary working, good access to specialist teams and improvements in infection control and timely assessments.
Inspectors also noted that people were generally able to access care promptly, and that colleagues felt supported by visible local leaders, valued in their roles and able to access wellbeing and development support. The main areas for improvement included patient flow, safety processes and the care environment and these are already being addressed. The service is tightening up how women move through the unit, strengthening safety checks and incident processes and making further enhancements to the birthing environment to ensure privacy and comfort. These improvements build on the strong progress already made and will help ensure a consistently safe and positive experience for women and families.
FGH is rated ‘Requires Improvement’ overall. It is rated ‘Good’ for effectiveness, caring and leadership, and ‘Requires Improvement’ for safety and responsiveness.
Westmorland General Hospital
At WGH, Maternity services were also rated ‘Good’, which is a major improvement from the previous ‘Inadequate’ rating. Inspectors found that the Helme Chase Maternity Unit has built a strong learning culture where colleagues feel encouraged and supported to report incidents and take part in shared learning. Safeguarding practice was judged to be strong, with 100% training compliance across the team.
Colleagues described a workplace where they feel supported, respected and confident to speak up. Leaders were seen as visible, inclusive and approachable. Leadership has strengthened significantly, with clearer roles, better governance systems, regular risk reviews and stronger alignment with the Trust’s strategy, which now focuses on compassion, inclusion and partnership.
Women reported positive experiences of care, including good access to appointments, clear information in different formats and strong support with planning for labour, birth and early parenting.
WGH is rated ‘Good’ overall, with ‘Good’ ratings in all areas: caring, effectiveness, responsiveness, safety and leadership.
Scott McLean, Interim Chief Executive, UHMBT, said: “Our teams have worked incredibly hard to significantly improve our services, and we are pleased this has been recognised by the CQC following their recent inspection. What is especially important to acknowledge is that despite the intense and challenging pressures colleagues are working in - especially in our urgent and emergency care services - they continue to provide compassionate and respectful care. We see this each and every day, but I am pleased it is reflected in the inspection findings as our colleagues deserve to be recognised for their efforts.
“We are proud of the improvements we have made in many areas of our services but as always, there is still more work to do. The reports highlight some specific areas where we need to do things differently and our teams are already working to make these changes.”
Andrew Stephenson, Chair, UHMBT, said: “Our main priorities are to offer the best possible care to our patients and the best possible experience for those who work with us, and these findings show encouraging progress towards this. We recognise that this work is far from finished - especially in the challenging environment the NHS is operating in as a whole - but we are confident that we have the right plans and the right people to deliver them.
“On behalf of the Trust, I would like to thank colleagues for their continued hard work and resilience, and for always putting our patients first - your efforts are very much appreciated.”
The full inspection reports for the Trust can be found on the CQC’s website.