- NHS hospital
Royal Lancaster Infirmary
Assessment report published 30 January 2026
Contents
Ratings - Urgent and emergency services
Our view of the service
Royal Lancaster Infirmary emergency department is based in Lancaster and part of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.
We carried out an unannounced assessment of urgent and emergency services on 15, 16 and 17 July 2025 due to information of concern and to follow up enforcement actions from our previous inspection.
The service was previously in breach of the legal regulations in relation to dignity and respect, safe care and treatment and premises and equipment. Improvements were found at this assessment, but the service remains in breach of regulation.
We assessed this service using our single assessment framework and looked at all key questions and 24 quality statements.
We spoke with over 40 members of staff, 20 patients, relatives, and reviewed over 18 records to inform our judgements and rating for the service.
Since the last inspection the improvements had been made to the stroke pathway to enable people to access treatment in a more timely manner. Individual risk assessments were now undertaken when people presented at the department with poor mental health.
We found that the service did not always provide safe care and treatment relating to medicines management, paediatric staffing levels were not always safe and found shortfalls in the governance of the department. The emergency department faced challenges in managing patient flow to the wider hospital. As a result, some patients were exposed to unsafe care due to ineffective escalation procedures.
We rated the service as requires improvement overall.
The service was in breach of the legal regulations relating to safe care and treatment relating to medicines management, safe staffing and good governance. We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with patients and those close to them during the onsite inspection visit. They were positive about the care they received despite having to wait to be seen or wait for a bed on a ward if a decision had been made to admit them.
People were generally positive about the service and care provided and feedback recorded as compliments or thank you cards received were displayed for staff to view.
The service scored well for patients being treated with privacy and dignity when assessed in local and national patient surveys, however scored less for how well staff communicated with them.
We observed staff interacting well with patients and those close to them. Staff of all grades displayed compassion and respect when communicating with people using the service.