• Hospital
  • NHS hospital

UHBW Bristol Campus

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Bristol Royal Infirmary, Upper Maudlin Street, Bristol, BS2 8HW (0117) 923 0000

Provided and run by:
University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust

Report from 30 October 2024 assessment

Ratings - Urgent and emergency services

  • Overall

    Requires improvement

  • Safe

    Requires improvement

  • Effective

    Good

  • Caring

    Outstanding

  • Responsive

    Requires improvement

  • Well-led

    Good

Our view of the service

Date of assessment 11 June to 19 June 2024. We conducted an assessment of urgent and emergency care services at the adult emergency department at UHBW Bristol Campus (also known as Bristol Royal Infirmary). The assessment also included an unannounced onsite visit on 11 June 2024. This assessment was to follow up on concerns raised to us about the safety of the emergency department at Bristol Royal Infirmary. We rated the service requires improvement because medical staffing was insufficient to meet demand at weekends, there were not enough trained fire wardens, the quality of risk assessment and management of sepsis needed to improve. However, ambulance handover times had reduced, staff worked to mitigate the risks of overcrowding in the department, staff worked well together to deliver evidence-based care and leaders worked collaboratively to improve the service. We found 2 breaches of legal regulations in relation to safe care and treatment and safe staffing. We rated the service as requires improvement overall. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

People's experience of this service

We reviewed feedback directly from people with experience of using the service, in addition to feedback the trust had received. Some people’s experience was not always positive as they felt they had experienced unnecessary delays to triage and treatment. However, most people were positive about the care they received from staff. For example, people told us ‘Staff are pleasant despite the long wait to be seen’ and ‘the team are doing an amazing job given the pressure today and substantially large wait.’ Responses to the Friends and Family surveys showed most people who used the service had a positive experience. Data from the week commencing 8 June 2024 showed 82% of respondents rated their experience ‘good’ or ‘very good.'