One of our medical negligence experts has expressed his deep concern for patient safety in an interview with the BBC after latest data from NHS England named a Trust running hospitals in Hull and East Yorkshire as the worst in the country.

Grimsby-based Chris Gresswell-Green , a Director at Switalskis, shared his concerns with the BBC’s Look North news programme about services at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and urged the Trust to make urgent improvements after it was ranked 134th out of 134 in the latest NHS England league tables which rank all acute trusts in the country.

The Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust – which runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham – had previously been ranked 130th in the tables when they were released in December but has fallen to the very bottom of the table in the latest results for March 2026.

Chris also expressed further worries for patient safety in the region by highlighting the low rankings for a number of other Trusts which provide services to patients in East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which operates York Hospital and Scarborough Hospital along with five other centres, was ranked only 131st out of 134.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust fared marginally better but was still only 114th after NHS England ranked the services it provides at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, Goole and District Hospital and Scunthorpe General Hospital.

The United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the biggest acute hospital trusts which services patients at Lincoln County Hospital, Grantham and District Hospital, the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston and County Hospital Louth, was also ranked outside the top 100 in 108th place.

Both Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust form the NHS Humber Health Partnership, which was placed into special measures by NHS England earlier in March 2026. NHS England confirmed that it had agreed a framework for enforcement under Segment 5 of the National Oversight Framework – the segment reserved for organisations facing the most significant challenges.

‘A serious concern for patients and urgent action required’: an expert view

Grimsby-born Chris, who is based at Switalskis office in the town which covers East Yorkshire, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire, expressed his concern about the latest rankings for hospital services in Hull, saying: “It’s deeply concerning but, sadly, not surprising based on recent history and the people we’re supporting who have suffered avoidable harm in the Trust’s hospitals.

“This is obviously another sign of the urgent need for change in both Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the wider NHS Humber Health Partnership. It’s another blow for patient confidence in hospital services in the region and also for all the hard-working, dedicated NHS staff who work in these hospitals and have to continue delivering vital services to patients every day.

“I really can’t stress enough just how urgent it is that action is taken now and what’s most important for everyone – patients, staff and the community – is that patient safety is placed at the very heart of any and all improvements which are being made or will be made.

“Every single incident of harm in any of the Trust’s hospitals is a chance to learn, improve, and make sure it doesn’t happen again – and they need to be making the most of every opportunity to do that.”

Reflecting on the latest rankings for Hull and the recent news about the wider NHS Humber Health Partnership being placed into special measures, Chris added: “Once a trust reaches this level, NHS England increases oversight significantly. That includes enforced improvement plans, closer scrutiny of leadership and governance, and regular monitoring against safety and performance benchmarks. The aim isn’t punishment - it’s stabilisation and safer care.”

“Real improvement doesn’t happen overnight. In my experience, you’re usually looking at months rather than weeks to see meaningful change, because it involves staffing, culture, systems and leadership. You don’t fix deep‑rooted problems in weeks - it’s months, sometimes longer.”

“But again, the absolute priority has to be patient safety. The most important thing is whether patients start to see safer care and fewer serious incidents - not just movement in a table. The key question now is whether the changes being made translate into safer outcomes for patients.”

‘Similar issues elsewhere’: a region-wide concern

And he expressed wider concern over rankings for other neighbouring trusts, adding: “What’s also really worrying is that we’re seeing similar issues across the region.

“Obviously, Hull is propping up the table and that’s an awful place to be but none of the Trusts in this region – East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire – even make the top 100 in the latest tables. That’s a real concern for anyone relying on NHS services in this part of the country and it shows that it isn’t just at one Trust where improvements are needed.”

The news is the latest in a series of setbacks and investigations at hospitals. In June 2025, Humberside Police began an early-stage criminal investigation into the deaths of four cardiac patients from a group of  11 who had transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) procedures between 2019 and 2023 at Castle Hill Hospital, part of the Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

In March this year, NHS England then confirmed that special measures had been imposed on the same Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust as the two constituent parts of NHS Humber Health Partnership.

News reports in 2026 have also revealed that there have been 19 Never Events – incidents of serious harm occurring to patients which the NHS accepts should never occur – since the NHS Humber Health Partnership was formed in 2023. Thirteen of those 19 Never Events occurred between June 2024 and August 2025 alone.

The league tables are described on the NHS England website as being aggregated metric rankings (AMR) for acute trusts, which form part of the NHS oversight framework segmentation and performance dashboard .