Monitor will tighten procedures to ensure that hospitals under investigation disclose all “potentially significant” items

An NHS trust that was embroiled in a major care scandal just months after the regulator Monitor approved its application to become a foundation trust withheld a damning report during the approval process, it has emerged.

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust failed to disclose to Monitor or the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that a review it commissioned into its maternity services had found serious concerns about clinical governance and poor working relationships.

The trust’s failure to pass on the findings or even the existence of the report has emerged from an investigation by KPMG, which Monitor had commissioned to look into …