Chelsea and Westminster Hospital emergency care services upgraded to ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating, while overall hospital remains ‘Good’

Following a recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection, urgent and emergency services at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have been upgraded to an ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating, while the hospital overall remains ‘Good’.

The inspection, carried out as part of the CQC ongoing monitoring of NHS hospitals, reviewed a number of key services across the hospital. 

The findings confirmed that: 

• Urgent and emergency care has improved from good to outstanding.
• End-of-life care remains rated as good.
• Services for children and young people remain rated as good.

Urgent and emergency services

The hospital’s urgent and emergency services, including Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) were praised for their strong safety culture. Inspectors found that staff reported incidents promptly, carried out thorough investigations, and used learning from incidents to improve medication safety, escalation processes and communication.

Staff consistently followed safeguarding procedures, completed mandatory safeguarding training and worked closely with local partners to protect vulnerable people.

The Trust was recognised for its performance in the NHS Urgent and Emergency Care Survey, scoring highly for treating patients with respect and dignity.

End-of-life care

Inspectors highlighted the Trust’s Butterfly Volunteers service for its compassionate support to patients receiving end-of-life care and their families, providing companionship and emotional support. 

Staff worked collaboratively across teams, sharing assessments effectively supporting a more personalised and compassionate experience and ensuring patients and families did not have to repeat their story multiple times.

The Trust achieved gold standard accreditation for end-of-life care across several wards, recognising its commitment to high-quality, patient-centred care.

Children and young people’s services

The trust was recognised for its early implementation of Martha’s Rule, giving patients, parents and families across North West London access to specialist paediatric intensive care expertise when concerns arise about a child’s deterioration while in hospital.

The children and young people’s service also performed strongly in outpatient care, with 65.8% of attendances being first appointments, compared with a peer average of 59.7% and a national average of 48.8%.

It was also found that Trust leaders supported and prioritised a culture of continuous learning through regular team meetings, safety huddles and debriefs, helping to maintain a safe, effective and patient-centre environment.

Lesley Watts, Chief Executive, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “I am extremely proud that our urgent and emergency service at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has been recognised as Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. This achievement reflects the dedication, expertise and compassion of our staff, who work hard every day to provide safe, high-quality emergency care for patients.

The report highlights many of the values that define our organisation – a strong culture of safety, continuous learning, innovation and teamwork, alongside a commitment to treating every patient with dignity, respect and compassion.”

The full CQC report can be viewed here.