HOSPITAL bosses say they took "immediate" action after a national regulator assessed A&E services at the hospitals in Carlisle and Whitehaven as "inadequate" for safety.

After a snap inspection in February by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the A&E departments at both The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven were given an overall rating of "requiring improvement."

The inspectors concluded the departments did not have enough nursing or support staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm or to provide the right treatment.

In a statement today, the NHS trust which runs the two hospitals - North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust - said that it had made "a number of improvements in their Accident and Emergency departments" following the inspection at the end of February.

The trust said: "The CQC did not cover all key lines of enquiry but looked specifically at the ‘Safe’ domain and aspects of both the ‘Responsive’ and ‘Well led’ domains.

"Therefore this was a limited inspection. The ‘Responsive’ and ‘Well led’ domains were both rated as ‘Requires improvement’ and the ‘Safe’ domain was rated ‘Inadequate.’

"The Trust took immediate action in relation to some of the concerns that were highlighted by inspectors and developed an action plan to address all issues raised."

The main issues raised by inspectors were: paediatric cover in the A&E department; training for staff in safeguarding, deteriorating patients and information governance; and patient flow and waiting times.

Lyn Simpson, Chief Executive at the trust since January, said: “We are sorry that the findings of the CQC report are clearly below the standards we expect for our patients.

“The report clearly identified the areas where significant improvements are required in relation to processes in place in the Trust to ensure our A&E services are safe and effective for our patients

"Immediately following the inspection we have maximised our paediatric nursing capacity and ensured consultant cover is available across both A&E sites.

"Whilst we continue to actively recruit additional paediatric nurses to improve the experience for paediatric patients, the Emergency department teams are working hard to ensure that they maintain the flow through the departments and minimise waiting at every step of the process.

"Whilst acknowledging the outcomes of the report and moving rapidly to improve the position, I’m confident that through the continued hard work and dedication of our staff we will achieve the improvement required ensuring we will provide the very best services for our patients.”

You can find the full CQC report on the CQC website.