Members of Cumberland Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee are due to meet at The Civic Centre on Thursday (September 24) to consider the report from North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC).
It outlines the trust’s improvement plans after it must improve after issues were found with staff shortages and infection control.
The CQC inspected NCIC’s emergency and medical care earlier this year and the findings identified improvements but said oversight of drugs, staff mandatory training rates and record keeping also needed to get better.
In response the trust said there was work to do and it was committed to improving. The CQC inspected services at West Cumberland Hospital, the Cumberland Infirmary and Penrith Community Hospital from June 6 to 8 and July 11 to 13 this year.
The CQC also found pain relief was not always given in a timely manner and inspectors said: “Some staff told us they did not feel they could raise concerns without fear of blame or reprisal.”
However, they did conclude:
Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness and respected their privacy and dignity.
The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs and made it easy for people to give feedback.
According to the council report it is now just over a year since Trudie Davies joined NCIC as chief executive. It states: “It has been a year of significant progress across our trust, with improvements in performance, investment in facilities, digital innovation, workforce development and patient care.
“While there is still a lot of work to do, we can see areas of improvement and recognise that this is due to the hard work and commitment of our staff, the support of our patients and local communities and the ambition and drive of all stakeholders to help to make us the best that we can be.”
The report states that, over the past 12 months, real progress has been made in reducing waiting times and improving access to care for patients.
It adds: “Our overall waiting list size has fallen from 39,432 to 35,233, as of August 2026, and the proportion of patients receiving treatment within 18 weeks of referral has increased from 54 per cent to over 66 per cent. This means that we have less patients waiting and those who do need our care are waiting for a shorter period of time.”
And, looking ahead, the report states: “The past year has been one of improvement, investment and innovation. This coming year, we intend to test and launch our new strategic narrative, which has been developed following an extensive listening exercise with partners, staff and patients.
“This will enable us to start to describe our future model of care, focussing on becoming a recognised leader and partner in the provision of high quality coastal and rural care, recognising the bespoke needs of our population.”