A CQC report based on our Emergency Department (ED) at Queen’s Hospital was published on Friday 04 March, after inspectors visited us in November.

With the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, it was an extremely busy time for us, therefore, we were pleased inspectors praised our staff for their hard work under pressure, and how our leadership team were supporting them and prioritising our patients.

We also know there is lots of work to do to improve the experience for our patients in our ED, especially the waiting times experienced by some.

Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive, said: “I’m pleased the report recognises the positive culture and leadership in our Emergency Department (ED); and praises our staff for delivering compassionate care while under huge pressure.

“It also challenges us to do better to reduce the amount of time people wait in our ED. I’m sorry so many people face very long waits, and that our staff have to work in these challenging conditions.

“Queen’s Hospital has struggled with long waits for more than a decade. This time, the CQC has looked at the whole urgent care system, and their report tells us our packed ED reflects what’s happening across our part of London. We’re working closely with our partners to try to make sure we respond differently this time.

“I’d like to thank the CQC for carrying out their inspection in the way they did during a very busy time. The team knew their stuff, inspired confidence in our staff to be open about their concerns, and reached judgements which were challenging but fair.”

Our inspection formed part of a review of urgent and emergency care services across north east London which found we need to work in a more integrated way with our local healthcare partners. A spokesperson for North East London Health and Care Partnership said: “Partners across the health and care system are committed to working together in an integrated way to address the issues raised by inspectors. Our priority is ensuring patients have access to safe and high quality services wherever they live.”

A key area for improvement is working collaboratively to improve patient discharges, which will in turn make more beds available to ensure patients who need to be admitted do not need to wait while being cared for in our ED.

Along with our health and local authority partners, we sit on a Discharge Improvement Working Group, which is already implementing initiatives to improve this area. These include the Home First scheme, in which patients’ needs are assessed in their own home to ensure they have all the support they need, and that long-term decisions about their future are not made while in hospital.

You can read the report on the CQC website.