HOSPITAL staff in Worcestershire are bracing themselves for an exhaustive inspection next week.

Chief Inspector of Hospitals Professor Sir Mike Richards and a team from the Care Quality Commission will carry out an inspection of Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital from Tuesday, July 14.

The team are expected to spend Tuesday carrying out some preparation and administration work before spending the following three days thoroughly examining services at the hospitals, which are run by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Results of the inspection not expected to be published until the autumn.

This will be the second time inspectors have visited the trust this year – in March the organisation carried out a surprise inspection at the A&E departments at the Royal and Alex. In its report, which was published last month, it said the departments were being “overwhelmed”.

Among its concerns were the amount of time it took to hand over patients from ambulances to A&E, treatment being carried out in corridors and staffing levels. But the trust has already put a number of measures in place to mitigate these concerns.

The Care Quality Commission also published a report into Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust – which runs the county’s community and mental health services – last month following an inspection in January, in which it gave the organisation a “requires improvement” rating.