Good Hope Hospital

Ratings - Diagnostic imaging

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

We visited the diagnostic imaging services at Good Hope Hospital on 21 and 22 April 2026. The trust was given 24 hours’ notice to enable operations managers, who worked across the trust, to take part. We carried out this assessment following some concerns about the safety of equipment. Also, as the service had not been inspected since 2019 and has not yet been rated. This was a full comprehensive inspection of all quality statements. There were no outstanding breaches of regulation for this service.

Good Hope Hospital’s diagnostic imaging service is managed by a trust-wide team that operates diagnostic services across the trust’s four acute hospitals and those in the community. The service consists of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT scanners), interventional radiology (minimally invasive treatment such as for blood clot dispersal, angiograms, and stenting), ultrasound services, nuclear medicine (for treatment of certain diseases including cancer), bone densitometry (DEXA scans), mammography, and plain film X-ray imaging. These different types of diagnostic tests are often referred to as “modalities”. The hospital’s main X-ray department provided all these imaging services, with further plain film X-ray facilities in the emergency department, treatment centre and the urgent treatment centre.

During our inspection we spoke with 41 staff which included senior and junior imaging medical staff, radiographers, nurses, students, healthcare assistants and administration staff.

We found:

The service had a good learning culture and people could raise concerns. Managers investigated incidents thoroughly. People were protected and kept safe. Staff understood and managed risks, and there were mostly enough staff to provide care to patients. However, there were some issues with ensuring emergency clinical trolleys were safe to use in one area. There were some issues with infection prevention and control, and some areas of the environment and equipment needing improvement.

Staff delivered care based on the latest evidence and good practice. Staff monitored people’s outcomes, although audit work needed to improve. Staff made sure people understood their care and treatment to enable them to give informed consent.

Staff treated people with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand what was happening in their test. Staff mostly responded to people in a timely way. The service supported staff wellbeing.

The service provided treatment which met people’s needs and they were at the centre of their treatment. Information was provided in a manner which people understood. However, due to high and growing demand, people were not always able to access the care and treatment when they needed it due to the waiting lists for some modalities.

The service was led by strong, supportive and visible leaders. Governance and risk management processes were mostly effective and staff were passionate about driving improvements. However, despite staff being positive about the culture during our site visit, staff survey results reviewed and an anonymous contact after the inspection identified areas of concern about speaking up.

People's experience of this service

People we spoke with were positive about the services they received. Most had waited only a short time from a referral to their appointment for their scan. Those who had been referred from the ward or the emergency department told us they had not waited long in the department before being seen. Most patients we met who had come from home for an appointment had not waited long in the department to be seen. One patient, who had arrived early, was delighted to be called for their scan earlier than planned due to a previous patient not arriving. Patients said staff were kind, gave them plenty of information about the procedure and asked if they were happy for the procedure to go ahead. Care we observed was given with kindness and compassion, and staff took extra time if a patient was distressed or did not understand what was happening.