Source · CQC inspection

Northwick Park Hospital

Provider London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region London Last inspected 26 Nov 2025

Overall rating: Requires Improvement  View full CQC report

Domain ratings

Five CQC key questions
Safe
Requires Improvement
Effective
Requires Improvement
Caring
Good
Responsive
Requires Improvement
Well-led
Requires Improvement

Current CQC assessment

Single Assessment Framework

From 2024 CQC rates services through ongoing assessments rather than comprehensive inspections.

Requires Improvement Assessed 26 November 2025
The service is not performing as well as it should and we have told the service how it must improve.
On 15 and 16 July 2025 we carried out an unannounced inspection at Northwick Park Hospital. This assessment looked at urgent and emergency care which we rated as requires improvement. The rating of urgent and emergency care has been combined with the ratings of the other services from our previous inspections. See our previous reports to get a full picture of all the other services at Northwick Park Hospital. This is the first time we have assessed the Urgent Treatment Centre as part of the urgent and emergency care assessment …

Ratings by service

Urgent and emergency services
Requires Improvement
Apr 2025

Regulatory breaches & enforcement

Current-framework "must do" equivalent

Breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, stated verbatim in the CQC assessment.

Breaches identified (1)

Breach Caring
The rating of Northwick Park hospital has remained the same, requires improvement with breaches of regulation 10, dignity and respect and regulation 12, safe care and treatment.
Regulation: Regulation 10 (Dignity and respect) · 26 Nov 2025

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 3 must-do 19 should-do

Must-do actions (3)

Legal requirements based on regulation breaches identified during inspection.

Must-do action 1 of 3
Must do
Safe
The trust must ensure patient records are always stored securely and cannot be accessed by unauthorised people.
⚠ Records were not always stored securely. We found a patient’s ‘adult inpatient care needs assessment’ booklet next to the reception area in the acute medical unit (AMU). We saw a computer in the endoscopy reception which was unattended and not locked. There was a risk that unauthorised people could have …
Must-do action 2 of 3
Must do
Safe
The trust must ensure all equipment is serviced in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions and the trust’s policies.
⚠ We found a drawer in the catheterization labs with a range of out of date equipment and a monitor in the catheterization labs which did not have a servicing date. We also found out of date equipment on a resuscitation trolley in the acute medical unit (AMU). There was a …
Must-do action 3 of 3
Must do
Safe
The trust should ensure cracked and broken equipment on the older persons short-stay unit equipment is removed and replaced.
⚠ We saw a cracked shower chair and shower chairs with chipped enamel on the OPPSSU. This could pose a patient safety and infection control risk as microorganisms can thrive in cracked surfaces.

Should-do actions (19)

Recommended improvements to enhance service quality.

Should-do action 1 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure that there are enough nursing and support staff on every shift to keep patients safe.
Should-do action 2 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure Waterlow scoring is accurate to keep patients safe from the risk of developing pressure ulcers.
Should-do action 3 of 19
Should do
Responsive
The trust should work with system partners to ensure there is a seamless service and clarity about clinical decision making in the provision of care at the trust and other NHS providers of mental healthcare.
Should-do action 4 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure patients assessed as requiring enhanced observations or one to one care receive care in accordance with their assessed needs at all times.
Should-do action 5 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure magnetic identifiers above patients’ beds reflect all the patients' identified needs as recorded on their patient record.
Should-do action 6 of 19
Should do
Well-led
The trust should ensure the trust’s senior executive team and ward leaders are visible to staff and patients at Ealing Hospital.
Should-do action 7 of 19
Should do
Responsive
The trust should ensure the signage that enables patients and visitors to navigate around the hospital is clear to patients and visitors.
Should-do action 8 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure staff use up to date policies on the trust intranet.
Should-do action 9 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure staff required to use control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH) products, are aware of the trust’s policies and guidance on COSHH.
Should-do action 10 of 19
Should do
Well-led
The trust should consider a local cancer strategy, to ensure cancer services are aligned to local commissioning and provision of services to support people during and after their cancer treatment.
Should-do action 11 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure that patients' venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk is always specified on the prescription charts, to ensure all staff have information on patients VTE status.
Should-do action 12 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure records are always stored securely, to ensure unauthorised people cannot access patients’ confidential information.
Should-do action 13 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure ‘do not attempt cardiovascular resuscitation’ (DNAR) are recorded clearly to ensure staff know if the form has been cancelled.
Should-do action 14 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure sharps bins are stored securely, sealed, signed and dated.
Should-do action 15 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure broken equipment is removed from the wards in a timely way and signage is used to indicate if equipment is broken and should not be used.
Should-do action 16 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure all staff consistently receive feedback from incidents across the medicines division.
Should-do action 17 of 19
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure all staff receive feedback from incidents.
Should-do action 18 of 19
Should do
Well-led
The trust should consider a cancer strategy which focuses on local priorities.
Should-do action 19 of 19
Should do
Well-led
The trust should ensure that staff in the theatre assessment unit have an equitable level of support as their colleagues across the core service.

Location details

CQC ID: R1K01
Local authority: Brent
Region: London

Inspection report

Type: Location
Date: 20 May 2022
Rating: Requires Improvement
Actions: 3 must-do 19 should-do
AI-extracted 3 Jun 2026