16 July 2026

Patients having scans and tests provided by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) said their care was kind and compassionate and they were treated with dignity and respect.

The feedback was highlighted in a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection of the diagnostic imaging service provided at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH), Princess Royal Hospital (PRH), including Hollinswood House, in Telford in April this year.

The ratings for the acute services diagnostics imaging from the CQC were the same for both RSH and PRH and are:

  • Overall rating: Requires Improvement
  • Safe and Effective domains: Requires Improvement
  • Caring, responsive and well-led domains: Good.

It is the first standalone inspection of the diagnostic imaging service, which was last visited by the CQC in 2014 when the service and outpatients were inspected jointly. Diagnostic imaging includes MRI, CT and ultrasound scans.

The Trust, which is part of the Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Community and Hospitals NHS Group, has welcomed the findings of the CQC report, recognising there is more work still to be done, and is committed to continuing its improvement journey. The Trust has plans in place to further improve, including:

  • Continuing to reduce the time it takes for patients to receive their test results and access care in line with national guidance – the Trust was one of the most improved for access to Diagnostics in 2025/26 and one of the most improved against the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard for cancer patients over the last year too
  • Addressing gaps in staffing to deliver the right-sized workforce with the right staff in the right place
  • Ensuring a highly skilled workforce through supporting mandatory and specialist training
  • Enabling patients to feedback, share ideas and involve them even more in their care – including through offering a range of translation tools to improve accessibility.

The inspection highlighted areas of good practice such as care that was kind, compassionate and person-centred, with staff making sure patients were at the centre of their care and treatment choices.

Staff were also committed to continually learning and improving services for their patients, with the CQC highlighting the service’s use of melatonin as an alternative to sedation for children having scans.

Martina Morris, Group Chief Nursing Officer, said: “We welcome the CQC’s report which demonstrates the improvements being led by our teams, but we are humble and recognise that we have more to do.

“We are committed to making further progress and addressing our challenges by recruiting to vacancies and supporting the wellbeing and development of our staff and further reducing waiting times for our patients.

“We have a multi-million-pound transformation programme in place, which will provide more modern tools for our staff to further accelerate improvement, including a new radiology IT system gradually being rolled out this month to strengthen patient safety and efficiency.”

Jo Williams, Group Chief Executive, said: “We know that some of our patients are waiting longer than we would want to access their care and, whilst we have significantly improved, we will continue our focus on this.

“I am incredibly proud that the kindness, care and the commitment of our staff towards innovation and learning have shone through in the report. It is their compassion and determination that will ensure we can deliver our vision of excellence for every patient.”