THE troubled Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust has been given less than six weeks to improve significantly or face action in a stark warning by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The warning notice has been issued after a series of inspections in November and December which raised serious concerns, across all three hospitals run by the trust – Worcestershire Royal, in Worcester, Redditch Alexandra and Kidderminster Hospital.

The CQC's concerns focus on patient safety and how the trust identifies and mitigates risks to patients.

Staff were told of the new warning notice in an email today and have been invited to a further briefing on Thursday.

The email, from trust chairman Caragh Merrick, set out to staff the concerns of CQC inspectors.

She said staff would be disappointed by the findings but fully accepted the concerns and said that the trust had "lost sight of the basics".

It read: "As staff we must all be held accountable for our actions."

Staff have been told that basic care has to improve.

Meanwhile, the trust is pledging that processes around patient safety will now be tackled from "the ward to the board" as it strives to "guarantee consistent, high, professional standards."

The acute trust has been in special measures since December 2015 after it was rated inadequate by inspectors.

The CQC inspection identified A&E waits and staffing as a specific concern, along with inappropriate care settings for patients, a lack of early warning records, issues with mixed sex accommodation and fridge temperatures.

The warning, known as a section 29a notice, gives the trust until March 10 to make significant improvements.

If the CQC is not satisfied that improvements have been made, the trust could face penalties including special administrators being brought in.

There was also an apology in the email to staff.

Mrs Merrick wrote: "For any failings in the past we apologise, but we can only improve by focusing on what we are doing now."

The announcement comes just weeks after two patients died after waiting on trolleys at Worcestershire Royal's A&E.

It is understood in one of the cases, a female patient on an emergency trolley on a corridor within the A&E department suffered an aneurysm and later died in a resuscitation bay.

Another patient died after suffering a cardiac arrest on another A&E trolley within the department after waiting 35 hours for a bed elsewhere in the hospital.

The CQC is the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England.