All NHS trusts now registered under new system for monitoring quality and safety of care

Published: 1 April 2010 Page last updated: 12 May 2022

1 April 2010

  • Tougher new regulatory system now underway
  • 101 trusts registered in third and final weekly announcement
  • All 378 NHS trusts now registered

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) today (Thursday) announced plans to give the final 101 NHS trusts a licence to provide services under a new, tougher system for regulating standards in the NHS.

For 10 of the trusts in today’s batch, registration is conditional on action being taken to address concerns about the safety and quality of care. CQC has set out the action required at each trust with strict deadlines for improvements to be made.

All 378 NHS trusts providing services in England are now registered with CQC, whose full legal powers come into force today. Trusts must be registered with CQC by law to provide care. To be registered, trusts needed to show they meet new essential standards of quality and safety, which CQC will constantly monitor.

CQC said urgent improvements were needed at the following trusts:

  • Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • East and North Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust
  • East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust
  • Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
  • Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Medway NHS Foundation Trust
  • Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

The regulator has registered the remaining 91 trusts in this third and final batch without conditions. A full list from this batch is below. Two previous batches of registrations were announced on 18 and 25 March.

Cynthia Bower, CQC’s chief executive, said: “I am pleased to announce that CQC has completed registration of all NHS trusts in England. Meeting the 1 April deadline is the first step in a new, single system of regulation for health and adult social care. We will now be monitoring these trusts constantly, carrying out more unannounced inspections and using our tough new enforcement powers to make sure people get better care.

“For 22 trusts, registration is conditional on improvements being made. We have set out the steps we expect to be taken and by when. It is now the responsibility of these trusts to ensure improvements are made. If they fail to act, we will take appropriate action.”

With 378 trusts now registered, 22 have had conditions imposed. Fifteen of these are in the acute sector, four are in mental health, two are PCTs and one is an ambulance trust. Twelve of the 22 with conditions are Foundation Trusts.

Cynthia Bower said: “Most conditions were imposed in relation to the care and welfare of people who use services. This makes clear that some trusts must do more to make sure people experience effective, safe and appropriate care that meets their needs and respects their rights.

“Staffing issues are a cause of concern in some hospitals and led to a number of conditions. Having enough staff on duty with the right training and experience has a direct impact on the quality of care people experience. Trust boards must ensure staff in hospitals are well trained and properly supported.”

Around 40 per cent of trusts informed CQC of concerns about meeting one or more of the regulations but in most cases conditions were not needed, either because suitable action plans were in place or because these were minor concerns that did not directly affect people’s care.

Cynthia Bower said: “Many NHS trusts across England have really engaged with the process and I want to congratulate them for their honesty about the challenges they face. In many cases, trusts told us where they had concerns but also set out the plans they had in place to deal with them. This showed a willingness to take responsibility for patient care and to put improvements in place.

“CQC’s regional teams will be following these up as a priority. After 1 April, compliance is not optional.”

In October this year, the new registration system will be extended to cover independent healthcare and adult social care providers, which are currently registered with CQC under a different system. For the first time, all these organisations will have to comply with a common set of essential standards.

From April 2011, the registration system is set to cover dentists and private ambulances. From April 2012, it is set to include primary medical care services such as GPs and private midwives.

List of all trusts with conditions

  • Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • East and North Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust
  • East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust
  • Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
  • Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Medway NHS Foundation Trust
  • Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Devon Partnership NHS Trust
  • Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
  • Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust
  • Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
  • Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
  • West London Mental Health NHS Trust
  • Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust
  • Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
  • Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

List of trusts in third announcement without conditions

  • Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
  • Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Bassetlaw Primary Care Trust
  • Bedford Hospital NHS Trust
  • Berkshire East Primary Care Trust
  • Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust
  • Bournemouth and Poole Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • Brent Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • Bromley Primary Care Trust
  • Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
  • Calderdale Primary Care Trust
  • Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust
  • Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust
  • Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust
  • County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
  • Coventry Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • Derby City Primary Care Trust
  • Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
  • East Cheshire NHS Trust
  • East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
  • Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Greenwich Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • Hammersmith and Fulham PCT
  • Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
  • Havering Primary Care Trust
  • Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Hillingdon Primary Care Trust
  • Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Islington Primary Care Trust
  • Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Kingston Hospital NHS Trust
  • Lambeth Primary Care Trust
  • Leicester City Primary Care Trust
  • Liverpool Primary Care Trust
  • Manchester Primary Care Trust
  • Medway Primary Care Trust
  • Mid Essex Primary Care Trust
  • Newham Primary Care Trust
  • NHS Direct Trust
  • Norfolk Primary Care Trust
  • North Lancashire Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust
  • Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Nottingham City Primary Care Trust
  • Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust
  • Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Redbridge Primary Care Trust
  • Redcar and Cleveland Primary Care Trust
  • Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District Hospital NHS Trust
  • Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
  • Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sefton Primary Care Trust
  • Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
  • Shropshire County Primary Care Trust
  • South Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust
  • South London Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Stockport NHS Foundation Trust
  • Swindon Primary Care Trust
  • Tameside and Glossop Primary Care Trust
  • Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust
  • The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust
  • The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust
  • The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust
  • Trafford Primary Care Trust
  • University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
  • University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
  • University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
  • Walsall Teaching Primary Care Trust
  • Warwickshire Primary Care Trust
  • West Essex Primary Care Trust
  • West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
  • West Kent Primary Care Trust
  • West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust
  • Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust
  • Wirral Primary Care Trust
  • Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Worcestershire Primary Care Trust

Ends

For further information please contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

About the CQC: Snippet for press releases

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.


We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.


We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.