Almost half of NHS hospitals in England fail to meet basic standards set by healthcare watchdogs, shocking analysis has revealed.
A total of 49 per cent were rated as ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the data shows.
These ratings mean that a service is “performing poorly” or “not performing as well as it should,” respectively.
According to an analysis by medical negligence specialists Patient Claim Line, hospitals in Uxbridge, Hull, York and Blackpool were among the six worst.
In contrast, 22 hospitals were rated “Excellent” by the CQC, approximately seven per cent of all NHS hospitals in England.
The six worst performing hospitals in England were Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, York Hospital in York, the Barkantine Centre in London, Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Blackpool and Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge.
The remainder, about 44 percent, were rated “Good,” meaning they were meeting expectations.
CQC inspectors found the hospitals to be “inadequate” with problems with hygiene, delays in care, uncooperative staff and poor leadership, among other things.
At Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, one of the worst, inspectors wrote: “There was a deterioration in infection prevention and control.”
“They found inconsistencies in hand hygiene practices among staff” and also noted there was “poor recognition of sepsis” — a reaction to an infection that can quickly kill — at the hospital.
At Hull Royal Infirmary’s maternity ward, inspectors found problems with the care of mothers and babies.
“Systems, processes and risks in the antenatal day unit/triage department were not well managed, resulting in long delays in women’s care and a chaotic environment that was not fit for purpose,” they wrote.
At Hillingdon Hospital in particular, inspectors wrote: “There was a deterioration in infection prevention and control” and “they found inconsistencies in hand hygiene practice amongst staff”.
Inspectors have found problems with the care of mothers and babies on the maternity ward at Hull’s Royal Infirmary.
In the case of the emergency and urgent care unit at Blackpool’s Victoria Hospital, inspectors said: “At times the department appeared chaotic and we were concerned about the lack of oversight the leadership team had over risks.”
Inspectors added: “Staff did not always work well together across units and some staff spoke of a lack of friendliness towards each other.”
At Blackpool’s Victoria Hospital’s emergency and urgent care unit, inspectors said: “At times the department appeared chaotic and we were concerned about the lack of oversight the leadership team had over risks.”
Nermeen Salahuddin, a trainee solicitor at the Patient Complaints Line, said the findings were “deeply worrying”.
“These ratings highlight serious problems in patient safety, quality of care and hospital management,” he said.
‘As attorneys who represent people affected by medical negligence, we see firsthand the devastating impact that poor care can have on patients and their families.
It is imperative that immediate action be taken to address these deficiencies and ensure that all patients receive the safe, high-quality care they deserve.
The report comes after Health Secretary Wes Streeting issued an extraordinary warning to Britons earlier this year over the CQC’s rating of hospitals.
Inspectors rated Corbett Hospital in Stourbridge as “inadequate”, meaning “the service is performing poorly and we have taken action against the person or organisation that runs it”.
London’s Barkantine Centre was another hospital deemed “inadequate” by NHS inspectors
He said an explosive review showed the CQC was “rotten” and described some of its ratings as “made up”.
Mr Streeting added that it had been a decade since some hospitals, doctors’ surgeries and care homes had been reviewed.
He also said there was evidence that some of the ratings had been “effectively fabricated and invented using biased opinions and inspections combined with historical ratings and judgements”.
He even urged members of the public who look at ratings on the CQC website to “take them with a grain of salt”.
The report also comes just days after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the £160bn-a-year NHS as “broken”.
He warned that it must “reform or die” and pledged to undertake the “biggest reinvention” of the disorganized system since its birth in the 1940s.
His comments followed a damning report by Lord Darzi, a pioneering surgeon and former Labour health minister, which concluded the NHS is in a “critical condition”.