A hospital trust has been rated as requiring improvement by the chief inspector of hospitals, despite some of its care being judged outstanding.

Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust , based in Stanmore, was given the rating by England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals for the Care Quality Commission last week.

The Stanmore site was given the 'requires improvement' rating in several areas including safety, responsiveness and leadership.

However it was rated as outstanding for its care and effectiveness, with the report saying people using the hospital received effective care which led to good outcomes, and that services were designed in response to patient needs.

Inspectors did find the Brokley Hill site was not fit for purpose, and did not provide a suitable environment to treat and care for patients.

CQC chief inspector Professor Sir Mike Richards said: “When we inspected the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, we saw some outstanding practice, but also some areas where improvements were required.

“The highest priority for the trust at this moment in time is to address the environmental issues that we identified.

“We saw that staff were caring and compassionate in their dealings with patients, and patients praised the care that they received. Some areas of the medical care provided at the hospital were found to be outstanding.

“We’ll return in due course to check that the improvements needed have been made, and hope to see that the good practice we identified will be sustained.”

Following the report from the CQC, chief executive for the RNOH Rob Hurd, said: “We were delighted to be a pilot specialist trust inspection site and welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the development of the process for inspecting specialist hospitals.

“I am particularly pleased to note that we have gained more 'outstanding' ratings for our services and patient care than any other hospital, in particular outstanding medical care.

He added: “The CQC recognised that the Stanmore estate, while safe, is not fit for purpose as it does not provide an adequate environment to care for and treat our patients. This is not new.

“The trust has been seeking support for the redevelopment of the hospital at Stanmore for decades with successive reviews and visits stating, at times, amazement that we continue to provide high quality patient care in such a poor estate.”