Salford Royal Hospital was once the jewel in England’s NHS crown.
Politicians used to flock there when they had an announcement to make. We even have archive footage of a junior health minister visiting – now he is Prime Minister.
They are not posing in front of the cameras anymore, though. That’s because the hospital – and the massive NHS trust it is part of – is in crisis.
Just for a bit of background: in 2017, Salford merged with a number of other hospitals in Greater Manchester and became the Northern Care Alliance (NCA). It is now one of the biggest trusts in England, which staff say is partly to blame for its problems.
It has gone from being highly rated, to having an enforcement notice issued by NHS England – and that means it is either not meeting its statutory duties or that it cannot ensure “that no further patients may suffer harm”.
