- NHS hospital
Ealing Hospital
Report from 3 April 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Urgent and emergency services
Our view of the service
We carried out an unannounced assessment of Ealing Hospital on 15 and 16 July 2025 in line with our assessment priorities. We assessed the following assessment service group.
- Urgent and emergency care
Overall, the service was rated as requires improvement with breaches of regulation 10, dignity and respect and regulation12 safe care.
The emergency department (ED) had previously been inspected in November 2019. At this inspection the urgent treatment centre (UTC) was operated by a different provider. This was the first inspection of the service that included both the emergency department and UTC as a service provided by this trust. At our last inspection the emergency department was rated as requires improvement.
The service did not always work with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored.
They did not always work together well to provide safe care that met people’s individual needs.
The service did not always detect and control potential risks in the care environment. They did not always make sure equipment, facilities and technology supported the delivery of safe care.
The service did not always assess or manage the risk of infection. They did not always detect and control the risk of it spreading or share concerns with appropriate agencies promptly.
The service did not always supply appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.
The service did not always make sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.
The service had a proactive and positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. They listened to concerns about safety and investigated and reported safety events. Lessons were learnt to continually identify and embed good practice.
The service made sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. They involved people in planning, including when changes happen.
The service always treated patients with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.
The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.
The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. Staff involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.
During our assessment we identified areas for improvements and some breaches of regulation. We have requested an action from the trust.
People's experience of this service
Patients, along with their families and carers, told us they felt staff treated them with kindness and provided good care and treatment. People were very positive about their interactions with staff and the support they received.
During our visit, patients explained that they were seen quickly on arrival by trained nursing staff, who carried out an initial assessment to understand the reason for their attendance at the service. Patients arriving by ambulance entered the department via a separate entrance and said they were seen promptly in the ED and triage service by a nurse and/or doctor.
Patient records indicated that patients received the necessary tests promptly following triage, and staff were available to offer assistance and support when needed. Patients reported feeling comfortable raising concerns and expressed that their voices were heard.
In the most recent NHS England Friends and Family Test (June 2025), 79% of respondents said they were ‘extremely likely’ to recommend the ED to others. With 93% reporting a positive overall experience. The Ealing Hospital urgent and emergency care (UEC) 2024 patient survey covered both ED and UTC. The key findings were that 85% of ED patients reported that staff helped control pain. In UEC 76% of patients reported they were able to get food and drink, and 87% of patients reporting staff communicated with them in a manner they could understand.
The Healthwatch Ealing 2024 patient experience report stated that the top 3 positive themes were quality of treatment, staff attitudes, and suitability of staff. While the top negative theme reported was waiting times, which included queuing on arrival. in ED.