- NHS hospital
Cheltenham General Hospital
Assessment report published 27 August 2026
Contents
Ratings - Urgent and emergency services
Our view of the service
Cheltenham General Hospital (CGH) is operated by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The trust operates two emergency departments, the other being at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital (GRH). The two hospitals share a divisional management team.
The ED is located on the main hospital site in Cheltenham and serves the local population of Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds. The ED at Cheltenham is open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week and accepts all patients, some of whom are then directed to alternative, and nearest trauma units. The department does not admit patients brought in by ambulance between 8pm and 8am when the department becomes a nurse-led minor injuries unit.
We carried out this assessment of the Emergency Department (ED) on 8 December 2025 to determine if improvements had been made following our previous assessment in 2019. We assessed 25 quality statements for the 5 key questions: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. We spoke with patients, family, carers and all grades of staff within the department and reviewed patient records.
At the previous assessment we rated ED as good. At this assessment the rating remains good. Improvements had been made and the service was no longer in breach of regulation from the last report. There were some minor areas of concern (that did not justify regulatory action) to improve service quality, one of which had been addressed and the other had not. In addition, there were some new concerns we found during this assessment and we have asked the provider for an action plan in response.
People's experience of this service
We looked for evidence that safety was a priority for everyone, and leaders embedded a culture of openness and collaboration. We checked patients were safe and protected from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm, neglect, abuse and discrimination. We also checked patient’s liberty was protected where this was in their best interests and in line with legislation. This means we looked for evidence people were protected from abuse and avoidable harm.
Patients, relatives and carers had opportunities to give feedback on the service they received. Feedback was taken seriously and used to improve care and treatment when possible.
Patients we spoke with told us they felt safe and if they had any concerns they would feel comfortable to tell someone. Most patients felt at the centre of their care and treatment and one patient said, “the junior nurse was caring” and made sure they were okay. They felt involved in planning and making shared decisions about their care and treatment. Patients were very understanding of the pressures faced by staff and were satisfied with the standard of care they received and their wait for triage had been timely.