The Trust has a strong infection control record, and slashed the number of MRSA and Clostridioides difficile rates by more than 70% in recent years[citation needed].

It had an oncology unit, run in partnership with Hospital Corporation of America, with 14 inpatient beds, six chemotherapy chairs, and two consulting rooms established in 2011.

[13] The trust was one of 26 responsible for half of the national growth in patients waiting more than four hours in accident and emergency over the 2014/5 winter.

[16] The Trust was one of five to benefit from a five-year, £12.5m programme announced by Jeremy Hunt in July 2015 to bring in Virginia Mason Medical Center to assist English hospitals using their clinical engagement and culture tools including the Patient Safety Alert System and electronic dashboard.

Hunt said: “The achievements at Virginia Mason over the past decade are truly inspirational and I’m delighted they will now help NHS staff to learn the lessons that made their hospital one of the safest in the world – patients will see real benefits as a result.” [17] In June 2015 Leigh Day & Co co-ordinated group litigation involving 17 separate families based on the trust’s alleged “failure to take reasonable care to ensure that there was a safe system of healthcare provided at [Queen’s Hospital]”.

[18] In October 2017 it needed a £15 million emergency loan from the Department of Health when external suppliers began threatening legal action over unpaid bills.

[19] As a result of this, the Trust was ultimately placed in Special Measures for Finance, with an increasing deficit significantly above that predicted at the start of the financial year.

[20] It featured prominently in a report by the Health Service Journal in 2020 on NHS trusts under “enhanced monitoring” by the General Medical Council, because of concerns from junior doctors.

In July 2018 Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive left the Trust, being replaced by Chris Bown on an interim basis.

A check on 1,021 women attending maternity at Queen’s hospital in 2017 found that 11 were not entitled to free NHS treatment and each was billed £6,500.

[29] The system reutilises cabling of the defunct patient entertainment provider; Premier Telesolutions (dissolved).