Grimsby and Scunthorpe A&Es breached safety rules

The emergency and urgent care departments at Grimsby and Scunthorpe's hospitals need urgent improvement, inspectors say.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found both had a shortage of skilled and experienced staff, and inspectors saw both medical and nursing staff use PPE incorrectly and fail to wash their hands between tasks.

Patients waited almost an hour, on average, to be triaged at Grimsby, with one deteriorating so badly during delays that their treatment needed "urgent escalation".

The Humber Health Partnership, which runs both hospitals, said it accepted "more work needs to be done", but a clinically led improvement plan was "already highlighting progress".

Both A&E departments were inspected in January 2026.

In reports, the CQC said neither consistently had "enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff", with a particular shortage of paediatric nurses.

Inspectors said there were long delays for patients at Grimsby's Diana Princess of Wales Hospital. Between July and December 2025, it took 56 minutes, on average, for patients to be triaged – almost four times the target.

One patient "required urgent escalation due to clinical deterioration", because the department was so busy they had not been assessed on arrival.

Staff at Grimsby reported patients being left in ambulances for five hours, because the department was full.

From July to December 2025, 30% of patients who needed to be admitted waited more than 12 hours for a hospital bed.

Inspectors said they found "infection control failures" at both hospitals, with staff failing to remove PPE between tasks, and "a lack of handwashing from all grades of staff", including doctors and nurses.

The inspectors also found out-of-date equipment and medications, including intravenous fluids.

The reports raised worries about the children's waiting areas, which posed serious safeguarding concerns.

They said adult patients were often asked to share the paediatric waiting area when the Grimsby department was busy, and there were "blind spots" at Scunthorpe General Hospital, which meant staff could not always keep watch over young patients.

Humber Health Partnership said the improvement plan was introduced after the CQC inspection.

A spokesperson said: "While accepting the need to continue making improvements, we're pleased to note patients and their families told CQC inspectors our staff treated them with warmth and kindness, while providing effective care and treatment in both emergency departments."

In a separate report, the CQC upgraded the rating of end-of-life care at the Grimsby and Scunthorpe hospitals from inadequate to good following an inspection in February.

The inspectors found "widespread improvements" in those services.

Humber Health Partnership said that report recognised "the outstanding dedication of staff looking after patients at the end of their lives".

The spokesperson added: "Our teams work hard every day to deliver the highest standards of care to our patients with compassion and dignity."