- NHS hospital
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Assessment report published 3 June 2026
Contents
Ratings - Urgent and emergency services
Our view of the service
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Emergency Department
The emergency department (ED) at Queen Elizabeth Hospital provides a 24-hour, 7 day a week service to the local population. The consultant led service is a member of a regional trauma network and is a designated trauma unit. The ED consisted of 14 ‘majors’ treatment trolleys, 9 ‘minors’ treatment trolleys, a 4 bedded resuscitation area with a paediatric resuscitation bay, a 9 bedded blue area used for rapid assessment and treatment (RAT), a green area which was being used to support care of patients with mental health and infectious patients consisting of 5 rooms, and a paediatric emergency unit consisting of 8 trolleys and a high dependency unit. There was also 2 triage rooms used for initial tests while patients wait for admission into the ED department. The ED also had a clinical decision unit (CDU) consisting of 2 bays with 5 beds each, 2 side rooms and 6 blue recliner chairs for patients. There is a designated unit for children and young people. There is a co-located urgent treatment centre which opened in November 2024 which is run by a different NHS service.
The Integrated Care Board (ICB) for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust is NHS South East London Integrated Care Board (SEL ICB). It is responsible for planning health services and commissioning care across the boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark. Queen Elizabeth Hospital's ED is a trauma unit, part of the South East London, Kent and Medway (SELKaM) Trauma Network.
We conducted this announced assessment on 24 and 25 February 2026 as part of our winter pressure programme, which meant we looked at a reduced number of quality statements. We last inspected UEC in 2020 when we rated it as Requires Improvement. At this assessment the ratings improved to Good.
We assessed 25 quality statements across the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. We have combined the scores for these areas with scores from the last assessment to give the rating.
We spoke with 12 patients and 6 relatives/carers. We reviewed 14 adult patient records and 6 records of children and young people. We spoke with more than 52 staff which included: consultants, resident doctors, nurses, senior leaders, healthcare assistants, emergency department technicians, administration staff, chief pharmacist, deputy chief pharmacist, pharmacy technician, housekeeping staff and volunteers.
People's experience of this service
Most patients, families and carers we spoke with were positive about the staff, who treated them with warmth and kindness and provided effective care and treatment. Comments from patients included: staff were “helpful, friendly and kind”. One patient described feeling safe. Patients said communication with them was generally good although most patients were not given any indication of how long they would have to wait for treatment past the initial meeting with the doctor. However, patients were kept informed of their care and treatment and knew what they were waiting for.
Patients said they were seen quickly by trained nursing staff when they arrived and were asked appropriate questions to find out more about why they had attended the ED. Records we reviewed showed they were given the tests they needed usually promptly. We observed staff interacting with patients in a sensitive and kind manner. Patients were also offered food and fluids whilst waiting.