- NHS hospital
Hull Royal Infirmary
Assessment report published 19 June 2026
Contents
Ratings - Medical care (Including older people's care)
Our view of the service
We conducted an on-site, assessment visit for medical care (including elderly care) on 18 to 20 November 2025 due to an aged rating. We assessed all quality statements from the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led key questions.
We attended several clinical meetings, including safety briefs, nurse handovers, ward, and board rounds and visited the pharmacy department.
The medical care core service (the service) operated across multiple care groups within Hull University Teaching Hospitals.
We assessed a sample of medical wards and units, including general medicine wards, no criteria to reside wards and the discharge lounge.
We rated the service overall as requires improvement. This meant the service was not consistently meeting the standards expected for safe, high quality and well governed care. Whilst there were examples of good practice and positive staff and patient experience, further work was needed to strengthen governance, improve consistency and ensure that all aspects of care met regulatory requirements.
We found continued breaches of legal Regulations in relation to staffing. Key issues included a shortage of nursing and non-registered staff and training.
We found new breaches of legal Regulations in relation to good governance, safe care and treatment, receiving and acting on complaints and Duty of Candour. These reflected weaknesses in clinical oversight, the reliability of safety processes, the timeliness and quality of complaint handling, and the consistency of open and transparent communication with patients. Delays in access to care and gaps in monitoring, audit and data quality further demonstrated that systems to ensure safe, responsive, and well governed care were not fully effective.
However, staff demonstrated kindness and compassion, patients felt respected and cared for, and there was a positive culture of learning.
In instances where CQC has begun a process of regulatory action, we may publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appeals have been concluded, if the action has been taken forward. Or, if we have requested an action plan, this will be requested upon publication of the final report.
People's experience of this service
Patients spoke positively about the care they received. They praised staff for being very caring, and respectful, with many describing their care as “brilliant,” and “excellent” and that the staff would “do anything for you”.