The new alert comes as Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust is forced to make millions of pounds in cost savings as staff warn they would not want their family cared for at the hospitals
A crisis-hit NHS trust facing multiple probes over alleged harm to patients has been slapped with a fresh warning over the safety of those in its care.
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, in Greater Manchester, has been given a formal sanction by the Care Quality Commission after the NHS watchdog identified “significant concerns” with its leadership.
The warning, called a Section 29a notice, was issued on 13 August and highlighted “significant concerns about the trust’s management of risk, patient safety, complaints, freedom to speak up processes and workforce wellbeing and inclusion”.
Such notices are given when the regulator believes there is a systemic issue within the trust, which could result in harm or the risk of harm.
In an email to all staff alerting them to the CQC warning, the trust’s acting chief executive, Suzanne Robinson, said: “We fully accept the notice.”
It comes after a series of investigations by The Independent exposing patient safety concerns and whistleblowers alleging that patients have been harmed or died due to poor care across the trust, which treats more than a million patients across Greater Manchester.
A dozen whistleblowers came forward as part of a joint investigation with Channel 4 News last month, warning that failings at the trust could become the next major health scandal, amid allegations that patient deaths and harm were being overlooked.
It came after The Independent revealed the trust’s gynaecology department had to review the care of hundreds of women due to “administration delays” linked to one consultant, meaning some had their cancer diagnosis delayed. Now, the trust faces a new independent external review of gynaecology surgeries due to safety concerns.
According to trust board papers published this month, it received a warning of alleged neglect over the death of a cervical cancer patient, who appears to have died after being taken off the waiting list despite an urgent referral. NCA confirmed the death occurred in 2025 but declined to comment further.
NCA has already faced serious regulatory action from both NHS England and the CQC. In June, NHS England said the trust could be fined or lose its license to provide care after identifying “fundamental failures” and warning that it could not be sure more patients won’t be harmed.
And in November last year, the trust was handed a Section 29A notice of surgery services in Salford Royal Hospital after patients were left lying in pain due to staffing shortages.
But despite those warnings, staff in the department told The Independent the situation has not improved.
One member said: “I wouldn’t want a family member operated on” by the trust.
They said: “It’s just dire, dire at the minute, and it’s all stuff that we’ve been saying. I’ve been saying this for over 18 months and bringing stuff to them, and it’s just a constant. [They say] ‘we’ll deal with that’, and then nothing happens.”
“It really is getting worse, especially with theatres, and they’ll try and blame the current industrial action, but it’s not those days. It’s normal days, are just horrendous. Staff crying. Staff exhausted, increasing sickness rates.”
They said staff were having to work without lunch breaks, or toilet breaks or, having to run as there are no staff to take over during operations.
The staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, said that due to staff shortages, inexperienced nurses are being used in operating theatres without adequate training and support.
Responding to the allegation, NCA said: “We have training, supervision and competency processes in place for all theatre roles. Colleagues must complete the appropriate training, assessments and sign-offs before working independently. No member of staff is expected to work beyond their assessed level of competence.”
It added: “We would encourage any colleague with concerns to speak up or raise a Datix report so that the issues can be reviewed and addressed appropriately.”
Last week, hundreds of critical care service staff went on strike, following earlier action from surgical theatre staff. During the walkouts the trust was forced to declare a critical incident, which is an alert warning it could temporarily lose its ability to deliver critical services.
This week, hundreds of staff across the NCA’s four hospitals, represented by the union Unison, are set to strike for two days in a dispute over overtime pay.
Unison North West regional organiser Kevin Dolan said: “The department is chronically understaffed and workers are choosing to cover shortages. The least they expect is to be paid the rate it says in their contract.”
The trust is facing a deficit of £141m, and has a year-end target to reduce this to £28.8m, meaning it must make huge cost-savings. The trust’s board papers state NCA plans todo this by introducing unpaid breaks and reducing spending on agency staff.
Another staff member toldThe Independent: “You can’t pluck a featherless chicken. All we hear is ‘we’re cutting the staff there, we don’t need as many there, or we have got enough, everything’s fine, and everything’s fine’.”
The NCA said the concerns identified by the CQC were consistent with known issues and were being addressed.
It added: “The CQC’s well-led assessment also recognised the progress we have made in strengthening clinical leadership across the organisation. The trust is delivering improvement programmes throughout its services to address performance and quality issues that have been clearly reported. We have reorganised to ensure clinical leadership of improvement and are working with the oversight and support of the CQC and NHS England.
“We are reporting publicly on progress and value the immense efforts being made by our 20,000 staff to deliver safe, high-quality care to the communities we serve.”
The CQC said it could not comment further on the notice until it publishes its full report.
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