Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest and most influential healthcare providers in the north of England, has found itself under a harsh spotlight after a series of damning reports and regulatory interventions exposed deep-rooted problems in its leadership and maternity services. The revelations, which span issues from financial misreporting to staff mistreatment, have prompted apologies from the trust’s new leadership and renewed calls for sweeping reforms.
In June 2025, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a comprehensive inspection of the trust, which comprises Leeds General Infirmary, St James's University Hospital, Leeds Children's Hospital, Chapel Allerton Hospital, Wharfedale Hospital, Seacroft Hospital, and Leeds Dental Institute. The inspection followed earlier concerns about the trust’s maternity and neonatal services—a probe that had already resulted in enforcement action and a formal warning notice. According to the CQC’s findings, leadership at the trust was rated as "requires improvement," with inspectors highlighting a lack of cohesion at board level and inconsistencies in openness and culture.
Rob Assall, CQC director of operations in the north, summarized the situation starkly: "During our well-led inspection of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, we found leaders were aware of the challenges they faced, however some weren’t as clear on how services could be improved which negatively impacted on how services were run." He added, "Leaders didn’t always listen to concerns, and some staff had negative experiences when they voiced issues, which impacted their wellbeing and the quality of people’s care. We received several in-depth accounts from staff of bullying and harassment in the workplace which provided evidence of behaviours which didn’t align with the trust’s values."
The CQC’s report did not mince words regarding the experiences of staff. Inspectors received "several detailed and in-depth accounts" of bullying, harassment, and even racist behaviors across all staff grades and racial backgrounds. While the number of staff reporting such experiences was relatively small compared to the size of the organization, the accounts were described as "powerful" and indicative of pockets of behavior fundamentally at odds with the trust’s stated values. As the report put it, "significant improvement was required to support and enable the aspired culture."
Brendan Brown, who took over as interim Chief Executive in mid-September 2025, issued a public apology on behalf of the trust. "The CQC received reports of colleagues being subjected to racist and bullying behaviours, and a number of staff members said their concerns weren’t listened to and that they experienced detriment after raising issues. I want to sincerely apologise to those colleagues. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where colleagues feel safe, respected, and supported, but we clearly have more work to do to ensure racism, discrimination and bullying have no place in our hospitals."
Beyond the troubling staff culture, the trust’s maternity services have come under particular scrutiny. For two consecutive years, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reported that it had met all ten safety standards required by the NHS Resolution’s Maternity Incentive Scheme (MIS)—a program designed to incentivize high-quality maternity care by providing rebates and funding to compliant trusts. As a result, the trust received nearly £4.9 million in payments. However, after the CQC’s June report rated the trust’s maternity services as "inadequate" and warned that women and babies were being exposed to "significant risk," NHS Resolution launched an investigation. It found that Leeds had not, in fact, met all the required safety standards and demanded repayment of the entire sum.
Magnus Harrison, the trust's chief medical officer, acknowledged the error in a statement to BBC: "We identified that we were not fully compliant with the MIS scheme. We have now been allocated £2.1m to support our action plan to achieve compliance, which forms part of our Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme." The trust has since applied for and received additional funding to support improvements, but for many affected families, the damage has already been done.
Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after what an inquest described as "gross failures" in care at the trust, has emerged as a leading voice among families demanding accountability. "The repayment of the award is long overdue and should be going back even further," she told BBC, adding, "This provides yet further evidence for the need for a full, independent inquiry into the Leeds trust." Winser-Ramm and other families recently met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting to press their case, but so far, the government has resisted calls for a formal inquiry.
The problems at Leeds are not isolated. The Maternity Incentive Scheme itself has faced criticism nationwide. Since its inception in 2018, multiple NHS trusts with poor maternity safety records—including Shrewsbury and Telford, Morecambe Bay, East Kent, and Nottingham—have claimed compliance, received millions, and then been forced to repay funds after subsequent investigations revealed shortfalls. According to an analysis by NHS Resolution published in July, 24 trusts have had to repay premiums in the first four years of the scheme, with 18 doing so more than once. "Nationally, families have long raised concerns about the huge flaws of the self-assessment involved by individual trusts in the maternity incentive scheme," Winser-Ramm noted. "Serious questions need to be asked about how, if trusts are unable to accurately self-report compliance, how satisfied can we be that similar misreporting is not commonplace in other areas of self-reporting."
Despite these serious failings, the CQC did find some positives at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Inspectors noted that senior leaders shared a coherent consensus on the trust’s strategic ambitions and operational delivery, and that there were "strong and longstanding partnerships" with other local trusts to share information and improve care. The trust’s inpatient survey results were "about the same" as other trusts overall, and "somewhat better than expected" for kindness and compassion. There is also a clear vision for reducing the trust’s environmental impact, with leaders aspiring to make it one of the greenest NHS Trusts in the UK.
Brendan Brown emphasized the need for urgent action: "We must focus on listening to our patients, our communities and our colleagues and be more curious about what we’re told. We also need to improve on how we act on what we hear. These changes need to happen quickly, as it is what the people we care for and work alongside expect and deserve." He added that, working with the new Chair Antony Kildare and the wider Board, his priority is to address the fundamental issues identified by the CQC.
For those wishing to raise concerns or share experiences about Leeds Teaching Hospitals, the trust encourages contact through the Patient Advice and Liaison Service, available by phone at 0113 206 6261 or by email at [email protected].
The journey toward restoring trust and ensuring safe, compassionate care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals is far from over, but the recent scrutiny has made one thing clear: meaningful change is not just overdue—it is now unavoidable.
