- NHS hospital
East Surrey Hospital
Assessment report published 29 August 2025
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 03 September 2024 to 31 January 2025
East Surrey Hospital is part of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust (SASH). The trust is a provider of acute hospital services in West Sussex and East Surrey, offering care to a local population of 744,000 and people from further afield due to the proximity of Gatwick airport, the M25 and M23 motorways. It provides a range of NHS hospital services.
This assessment looked at medical care including elderly care, due to receiving information of concern. We rated this service as requires improvement. The rating from medical care including elderly care has been combined with ratings of the other services from previous inspections, to give an overall rating for East Surrey Hospital. See previous reports to get a full picture of all other services at East Surrey Hospital.
The rating of East Surrey Hospital changed to requires improvement.
In our assessment of medical care including elderly care, we found the service was underperforming and not always meeting expectations. A proactive and positive safety culture was not embedded, and lessons were not always learnt or disseminate to staff. The service used systems and patient pathways however there were issues with the timeliness of assessing clinical risk. The design, maintenance and use of facilities, premises and equipment did not always keep people safe. The service did not always have enough qualified, skilled and experienced people to keep people safe. The service did not always ensure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people’s needs, capacities and preferences. People and communities were not always at the centre of how care was planned or delivered. Leaders were not visible and did not always communicate effectively with staff. Their governance was not clear or effective and management systems were not always effective to monitor safety, quality and performance in the services. However, staff understood how to protect patients from abuse and worked together to care for people that used their services. The service provided care based on national guidance and evidence-based practice. People were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. The service had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and a strategy to turn it into action.