![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SALFORD-THUMB-5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Salford Royal Hospital was once the jewel in England\u2019s NHS crown.<\/p>\n
Politicians used to flock there when they had an announcement to make. We even have archive footage of a junior health minister visiting \u2013 now he is Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
They are not posing in front of the cameras anymore, though. That\u2019s because the hospital \u2013 and the massive NHS trust it is part of \u2013 is in crisis.<\/p>\n
Just for a bit of background: in 2017, Salford merged with a number of other hospitals in Greater Manchester and became the Northern Care Alliance (NCA). It is now one of the biggest trusts in England, which staff say is partly to blame for its problems.<\/p>\n
It has gone from being highly rated, to having an enforcement notice issued by NHS England \u2013 and that means it is either not meeting its statutory duties or that it cannot ensure \u201cthat no further patients may suffer harm\u201d.<\/p>\n
Across departments<\/p>\n
Concerns into the spinal unit were previously investigated after disgraced surgeon John Bradley Williamson botched numerous operations.<\/p>\n
But in a joint investigation with the Independent, Channel 4 News can now reveal accusations of patients being harmed, of incidents being downgraded so they are not properly investigated, and of chronic staff shortages.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Salford-Hospital-Pic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
And we have been told issues span the trust\u2019s departments, including renal, neuro, maternity, gynaecology and emergency care.<\/p>\n
One clinician told us that, in Salford\u2019s emergency department, corridor care was the norm.<\/p>\n
\u2018Unsafe, inhumane\u2019<\/p>\n
Speaking anonymously, she described people \u201cdying, deteriorating, or just elderly people lying on a corridor on a hard trolley because you can\u2019t put beds there\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, the longest we\u2019ve ever had somebody wait<\/a> for a bed is four days on a corridor,\u201d she told us.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unsafe and it\u2019s inhumane.\u201d<\/p>\n She also told us that complaints had been made to management by a group of clinical staff but, she said, they had been asked to shut it down. We are told the consultants refused.<\/p>\n During our investigation, nearly a dozen members of staff wanted to talk both on and off the record \u2013 so serious were their concerns.<\/p>\n In November, a survey of 400 consultants from across the trust and from different departments \u2013 now leaked to us \u2013 showed nearly 81% said patient safety was worse than in pre-Covid times and 75% did not believe the trust was well led.<\/p>\n In April, the chief executive Dr Owen Williams announced he was leaving. Yet still staff complaints persist.<\/p>\n \u2018Patients harmed\u2019<\/p>\n A system called Datix is used by staff to record incidents \u2013 some minor, others more serious. During this investigation, we have repeatedly been told of management downgrading them, asking that they be closed, or closing them with no action.<\/p>\n Vanessa Lawton, pictured above, was a consultant gynaecologist at Salford until she resigned in April. She told us that many incidents were not investigated at all or were closed down.<\/p>\n Even patients had been harmed, she said, because the reviews were not thorough.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Vanessa-Pic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GLYN-PIC.jpg\")
<\/p>\n