AIREDALE NHS Foundation Trust has been told by a quality health watchdog that it must continue to make improvements.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says the trust, which runs Airedale Hospital at Steeton, has to ensure safe nurse staffing levels are maintained on each shift.

And inspectors said overseeing by management had to be improved.

The trust's overall rating remains at requires improvement.

But the CQC said progress had been made in several areas since the previous inspection.

Trust bosses told us staff recruitment is "a national challenge" but the issue is being addressed.

They add there is much positive feedback in the report, published this week.

Inspectors visited the trust in March to check on progress since their previous visit.

They found action had been taken to address some of the issues, particularly within critical care.

Staff reported an improvement in the organisational culture.

However, the chief inspector of hospitals – Professor Ted Baker – says the trust has been told it must make further improvements in critical and urgent and emergency care, medical services and surgery.

He added: "It has to ensure that during each shift there are enough suitable staff to meet the needs of the patients.

"In addition, we found the governance arrangements required further strengthening.

"We were not assured from some recently-reported safety and safeguarding incidents that the systems and processes to learn from those were fully effective.

"There has been improvement at Airedale, but overall the trust remains rated as requires improvement.

"We will continue to monitor the services closely and work with our partners in the health service to ensure the safety of people using them. We will return in due course to check on progress."

Other areas where the trust has been told to improve include ensuring staff complete mandatory training and reviewing the process of identifying, recording and reporting mixed-sex accommodation breaches in critical care.

Good practice identified included the work of the Frailty Elderly Pathway team – which demonstrated a "proactive approach" to ensure vulnerable patients received the right care as early as possible – a positive incident-reporting culture and a "continued and strong commitment" to public engagement.

Bridget Fletcher, the trust's chief executive, said she was extremely pleased with the positive feedback.

"The inspectors saw much evidence of the enormous strides made by our teams in the eight short months since the last inspection report – a period which included the busiest winter on record for the NHS," she added.

"I am proud of all our people for working together to drive these changes, which have resulted in the majority of our services being rated good or outstanding.

"In particular, I would like to single out our critical care team which has turned its service around since the last inspection, and our Frail Elderly Pathway team, which was highlighted as an example of outstanding practice.

"The report usefully highlighted some areas for improvement and we have plans in place to tackle them. Nurse staffing and recruitment in particular remains a national challenge, but we continue to focus on planning our future workforce and have over the last year adopted new nursing roles, such as nurse associates and apprentice healthcare support workers.

"Above all, we remain positive about our trust and its future.

"Earlier this year we were named as one of the CHKS 40 top hospitals for the sixth year running and we also consistently score above the national average for our friends and family test recommendation rate, which reflects the high standards of care we provide to patients. This is only possible through the continued hard work, compassion and dedication of our amazing staff."

She added: "I would like to thank local people for supporting us and choosing Airedale for their health services. We are proud to serve our community and will continue to provide the best healthcare possible to them."

The full report can be viewed at cqc.org.uk/provider/RCF.