Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital still has to improve

The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (N&N) has been urged to take action to improve its services by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The watchdog assessed the Colney site in November last year in three key areas, including the experiences of outpatients visiting the hospital.

And they found patients could not always access the services they needed, with their care blighted by long waits and cancellations.

Norfolk and Norwich Hospital (Image: Newsquest)

However, bosses have said significant strides have been made in the 10 months following the inspection - insisting the hospital was a very different place in November.

Rob Assall, director of operations for the CQC in the East of England, said: "During this inspection, we identified areas for improvement in leadership at the trust overall and also at the hospital.

"Across all of the services we looked at, we found people couldn't always access services when they needed them and often faced long waits for treatment or had their appointments cancelled.

"However, people told us staff treated them with compassion and kindness and respected their privacy and dignity."

At the time of the inspection, the trust was under the interim leadership of Nick Hulme, who was running the organisation simultaneously with the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust.

However, it has since appointed a new, full-time chief executive, Lesley Dwyer, who took on the role in February.

Lesley Dwyer, chief executive of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital  (Image: NNUH)

She said: "We have come a long way since this inspection.

"We are seeing a sustained period of good emergency department performance and we've worked together to reduce escalation beds and increase early discharges.

"We are resolved to make this a great place to work for everyone and to reduce the pressures our hard-working staff face.

"We know we have more work to do to improve planned care and our elective recovery and are keen to work with the CQC to demonstrate how we are making sustained improvement for our staff, patients, carers and visitors."

Following the inspection, the hospital continues to be rated as 'requires improvement' - the second lowest rating available.