Our latest hospital inspections find variations in care quality

We’ve published the next four reports detailing our findings from our new way of inspecting hospitals in England. The reports show variations in the quality of care.

We found good care at Salford Royal and Royal Surrey County Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts, and areas of concern at Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch NHS Foundation Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The reports are clear about where the hospitals in question need to make improvements. Our inspectors will return to the trusts to follow up on their findings from these inspections and to report on their progress in making improvements.

You can read more details about the findings from each of the inspections in our full press release below.

Read our press release: Latest hospital inspections find good care, but still too much variation.

About the inspections

Our inspection teams included doctors, nurses, hospital managers, trained members of the public, inspectors and analysts. They carried out a mixture of announced and unannounced inspections, held focus groups with staff, and held a public listening event. The reports are based on a combination of inspection findings, information from our Intelligent Monitoring system, and information from patients, the public and other organisations.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "We have now published reports on eight trusts following our new-style inspections. The larger teams and the involvement of more clinical specialists and members of the public is giving us a good picture of what care looks like across these large and complex organisations. When we go in, we are looking to see if services are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led.

"Our reports show a mixed picture of care, but I am particularly pleased that we have seen good examples of care, even in hospitals where the overall findings have not been positive. I want hospitals to learn from each other to help them improve their services and we will continue to highlight good practice where we find it."