The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has re-rated the urgent and emergency services at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital as requires improvement following an inspection in July.
Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital is run by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. CQC carried out the inspection after receiving concerns about staffing levels, the environment for people experiencing mental health conditions, and the culture around people being able to speak up about issues affecting them.
Inspectors found the service breached two regulations relating to safe care and treatment and good management of the service. Some safety issues, including poor mandatory training compliance had persisted since the previous inspection.
CQC has re-rated safe and well-led as requires improvement. Effective and caring have been re-rated as good. Responsive has been upgraded from requires improvement to good.
The overall rating is unchanged for both Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital and Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and both remain as good.
Catherine Campbell, CQC’s deputy director of operations in Hampshire, said:
“When we inspected Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital’s emergency department, we found people weren’t always receiving care in a safe environment. Leaders hadn’t consistently addressed known safety risks or been able to sustain improvements over time, meaning some issues we had identified previously remained unresolved.
“People experiencing mental health crises who may be at risk of self-harm were particularly affected. We found exposed pipework, accessible oxygen tubing that posed a ligature risk, and unlocked rooms containing sharp equipment. Despite incidents in which people had used items within the department to harm themselves, the service hadn’t taken effective action to reduce these risks.
“Staff hadn’t always completed mandatory training in critical areas such as resuscitation and life support. This resulted in gaps in clinical competence that could impact people’s care during emergencies.
“However, we also saw many examples of kind and compassionate care. People told us that staff were polite, respectful, and understanding. We observed staff adapting their support to meet the needs of children, people with disabilities, and Travellers. The service had also introduced earlier assessments by senior doctors, which reduced waiting times and supported the service’s low tolerance for patients being cared for in corridors.
“While the trust has made some improvements, more work is needed to ensure people consistently receive safe and effective care. We will continue to monitor the service to ensure these improvements are delivered and sustained.”
Inspectors found:
- The emergency department did not have a designated safe space for people experiencing mental health problems, leaving them in areas with multiple hazards, including accessible sharp equipment and ligature risks.
- Staff did not always complete the required observations for people at risk of self-harm, increasing the risk to vulnerable individuals.
- Staff compliance with documenting early warning scores declined in July 2025, which meant they could not always identify when a person’s condition was deteriorating.
- Delays in people being seen were driven by system-wide constraints, particularly the limited availability of external mental health beds.
However, inspectors also found:
- Staff achieved 100% compliance with treating sepsis within the critical one-hour window for antibiotics.
- Staff used specialist resources to communicate with people who had sensory or language barriers, ensuring they received equitable care.
- The department had improved waiting times for people aged 70 and over to under seven hours.