East Surrey Hospital emergency department ‘requires improvement’
A major Surrey hospital has been ordered to make “rapid improvements” after a healthcare watchdog inspection downgraded its emergency and medical services.
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) latest audit of East Surrey Hospital in Redhill saw the two departments’ overall ratings drop from “good” to “requires improvement” over several concerns noted by inspectors.
In addition, the emergency department’s safety record received an “inadequate” score, with the report saying this means people are “at risk of avoidable harm”.
The CQC’s South East deputy hospitals lead Amanda Williams said: “We rated the safety of urgent and emergency care as inadequate and issued a warning notice requiring urgent action to reduce the risk of harm to people.
“The trust now needs to ensure that the dedication shown by staff is matched by systems that keep people safe.
“We’ve told leaders where we expect to see rapid improvements and will continue to monitor the trust closely to ensure people are kept safe in the meantime.”
The report is based on an inspection carried out in March 2026, which flagged several points of concern across the relevant departments.
Inspectors found the security of fire exits was not up to scratch, with the report saying: “On some wards, staff had placed equipment in front of fire exits to prevent patients from leaving the ward. This practice also created further risk in the event of an emergency evacuation.”
They also observed that patients in urgent and emergency services often faced lengthy delays at triage, and said that some were left waiting for as long as 90 minutes – despite national guidelines saying this should happen within 15 minutes of arrival.
A spokesperson for Surrey and Sussex Healthcare (SASH) NHS Trust, which manages East Surrey Hospital, said the trust has “accelerated” its improvement programme for urgent and emergency care, and insisted that safety in healthcare is its “highest priority”.
Medical services staff are said to have told inspectors that office temperatures could reach more than 30 degrees during summer. From the site visit in March, the CQC found temperatures in one ward office to be “excessively warm”, according to the report.
However, the inspectors nonetheless praised the dedication of hospital staff, with the caring side of the emergency and medical services both being deemed “good”.
“Patients overwhelmingly recognised the commitment and dedication of staff and understood that many of the issues affecting their experience were related to pressures on the service rather than the attitude or behaviour of staff,” the report says.
Ms Williams added: “When we inspected East Surrey Hospital’s urgent and emergency care and medical care services, people receiving care and relatives consistently told us that staff were kind, took time to explain what was happening, and worked hard in a busy and pressurised environment.
“Our inspectors observed caring interactions between staff and people receiving care, including during difficult moments, and this is a credit to the hospital’s workforce. However, this standard of care wasn’t consistently supported by the systems around it.”
A SASH NHS Trust spokesperson said “significant progress” has been made since the March inspection, including an expansion of same day emergency care and strengthening oversight of corridor care where it becomes absolutely necessary.
The trust’s chief executive Andrew Hines said: “We welcome the CQC’s most recent inspection, which has supported our work to strengthen and accelerate delivery of our improvement plans in urgent and emergency care.
“While we have much more we want to do to continue to transform our services, since the inspection we have seen significant improvements across areas including same day emergency care, frontline staffing and care for patients attending our hospital with mental health needs.”
And chief medical officer Dr Ed Cetti said: “Modern urgent care is increasingly about ensuring patients receive the most appropriate care without a hospital admission wherever possible. Our expanded same day emergency care services allow patients to be rapidly assessed and treated by specialist teams, often returning home the same day.
“These improvements are helping us reduce waiting times, improve patient flow and ensure hospital beds are available for those who need them most.
“The trust will continue working closely with the CQC, patients and partner organisations to embed improvements and build on the progress already made.”