CQC publishes inspection report on two services at King’s College Hospital
28 August 2026 - The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated two services at King’s College Hospital as ‘Requires Improvement’ following an inspection in June this year
Urgent and emergency care at the hospital, as well as services for children and young people, were both rated ‘Requires Improvement’. The ratings for both services are unchanged since they were last inspected. King’s College Hospital’s rating also remains as ‘Requires Improvement’ overall.
The inspection team found areas of good practice in urgent and emergency care at the hospital. This included a positive culture in which staff were able to raise concerns and ask for help. The service also regularly monitored its outcomes to improve them, and staff worked well in partnership with external organisations. Staff were also kind and understanding to patients.
However, the CQC also found staff didn’t always comply with infection prevention and control measures; equipment wasn’t always used safely; and that some patients experienced long-waits and overcrowding. The inspection team did recognise, however, that demand for urgent and emergency care at the hospital was high, and that there had been improvements in some areas identified during their previous inspection of the service.
Staff delivering services for children and young people at the hospital were described by patients as warm, helpful, kind, competent, professional, and respectful. Staff were observed providing a multi-disciplinary service for children and young people, and the King’s Schoolroom was praised for supporting secondary school children to undertake their exams during their hospital stay.
However, the inspection team also found a number of areas for improvement in relation to learning from incidents, mandatory training, staffing, records management, and risk assessments.
A number of improvement actions were put in place immediately after the CQC’s inspection of both services in June, and further work is ongoing to ensure all remaining issues are addressed.
Matthew Trainer, Chief Executive, said:
“It is positive that the CQC found some improvements had been made since these two services were last inspected. Patients continue to recognise the kindness and professionalism of our staff.
“However, it is clear that improvements in urgent and emergency care are needed, and the same is true of services for children and young people. Demand for both services is high, but we need to make sure we get the basics right despite the pressures.”