NHS Humber Health Partnership Placed Into Special Measures After 'Never Events' Scandal
The NHS body responsible for running five hospitals across East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire — including Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham — has been placed into special measures following a damning series of serious preventable incidents.
NHS Humber Health Partnership (HHP) has been moved to Segment 5 of the National Oversight Framework, the lowest possible grade, after revelations that 13 "Never Events" occurred between June 2024 and August 2025. Never Events are defined as serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents that should not occur if proper procedures are followed. They include wrong-site surgery, retained foreign objects after procedures, and medication errors.
The trust, which was formed in August 2023 by merging Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLG) and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH), has recorded a total of 19 Never Events since its creation — a figure that has alarmed regulators and patient safety campaigners alike.
Staff morale "extremely low"
The Royal College of Nursing's head of operations, Peta Clark, said the news came as little surprise to frontline workers, warning that staff morale across the partnership had been "extremely low" for some time.
"The staff working in these hospitals are dedicated professionals doing their best under incredibly difficult circumstances," Clark said. "But when you have systemic failures in patient safety, it tells you something is deeply wrong at an organisational level. Staff have been raising concerns for months."
HHP manages hospitals in Hull, Cottingham, Goole, Grimsby and Scunthorpe, serving a combined population of more than one million people across the Humber region. The special measures designation means the trust will now face intensive support and scrutiny from NHS England, with regular progress reviews and the potential for further intervention if improvements are not made.
New leadership brought in
The trust has already undergone significant leadership changes in response to the crisis. Lyn Simpson was appointed as interim chief executive in July 2025, and an improvement team of five senior staff members alongside an external contractor was brought in the following month to address the patient safety failings.
A spokesperson for HHP said: "We take patient safety extremely seriously and we are deeply sorry for the harm caused by these incidents. Since the new leadership team was appointed, we have implemented a comprehensive improvement programme that includes enhanced safety checks, additional staff training, and a complete review of our clinical governance procedures."
What does special measures mean?
Being placed into special measures does not mean the hospitals will close or that services will be immediately affected. Patients can continue to access A&E, outpatient appointments and planned procedures as normal. However, the designation signals to regulators that the trust requires significant improvement and will be subject to heightened monitoring.
For patients and families across East Yorkshire, the news is nonetheless deeply concerning. Hull Royal Infirmary is the region's major trauma centre and one of the busiest hospitals in the north of England, while Castle Hill Hospital provides specialist cancer, cardiac and respiratory services.
Local MP Dame Diana Johnson said she would be seeking urgent assurances from the Health Secretary about the support being provided to the trust. "My constituents deserve to know that when they walk through the doors of their local hospital, they will receive safe, high-quality care," she said.
The trust's next formal review is expected within three months, when progress against the improvement plan will be assessed.