Source · CQC inspection

The Ipswich Hospital

Provider East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region East Last inspected 18 Feb 2026

Overall rating: Requires Improvement View full CQC report

Domain ratings

Five CQC key questions

Safe

Requires Improvement

Effective

Good

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 18 February 2026

The service is not performing as well as it should and we have told the service how it must improve.

On 23 and 24 September 2025 we carried out an assessment of medical care (including older people’s) and urgent and emergency care. We carried out this assessment to review the progress made against the requirement notice that was served on the provider following the inspection in January 2020. We found the service had taken actions to address the requirement notice however, current performance demonstrated challenges with maintaining compliance in some areas.The rating of medical care (including older people) and urgent and emergency care has been combined with the ratings of …

Ratings by service

Medical care (Including older people's care)

Requires Improvement

Jun 2025

Medical care (Including older people's care)

Requires Improvement

Jun 2025

Urgent and emergency services

Requires Improvement

Jun 2025

Urgent and emergency services

Requires Improvement

Jun 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.

Requirement notice Overall

We carried out this assessment to review the progress made against the requirement notice that was served on the provider following the inspection in January 2020.

· 18 Feb 2026 · CQC source

Requirement notice Overall

We found the service had taken actions to address the requirement notice however, current performance demonstrated challenges with maintaining compliance in some areas.

· 18 Feb 2026 · CQC source

Requirement notice Overall

In addition, it was to review the progress made against the requirement notice that was served on the provider following the inspection in January 2020.

· 18 Feb 2026 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

During our assessment, we found concerns which resulted in a breach of regulation in which we served a warning notice.

· 18 Feb 2026 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

In our assessment of medical care (including older people) services and urgent and emergency care, we found concerns which resulted in a breach of regulation in which we served a warning notice.

· 18 Feb 2026 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

During our assessment we found concerns which resulted in a breach of regulation in which we served a warning notice.

· 18 Feb 2026 · CQC source

Breaches identified (4)

Breach Safe

We found breaches in consent, safe care and treatment, and good governance.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 18 Feb 2026

Breach Safe

We previously inspected in 2020 and found 6 breaches of regulations relating to safe care and treatment, staffing and good governance.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 18 Feb 2026

Breach Safe

At this assessment we identified breaches of regulations in relation to Safe Care and Treatment and Good Governance for both services.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 18 Feb 2026

Breach Safe

We found breaches in Safe Care and Treatment and Good Governance.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 18 Feb 2026

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 8 must-do 3 should-do

Must-do actions (8)

Legal requirements based on regulation breaches identified during inspection.

Must-do action 1 of 8

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure staff complete mandatory and safeguarding training in line with the trust target.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment)

⚠ Not all staff had completed mandatory training or specialist training in line with trust requirements. Compliance rates for medical staff were low. Managers could not be assured that medical staff were competent in key aspects of their role due to failure to complete this training. Compliance with safeguarding training was …

Must-do action 2 of 8

Must do

Safe

The service must carry out and record regular baby abduction drills and evacuation drills.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment)

⚠ Baby abduction drills had not been carried out, and evacuation drills had not been carried out for a year, meaning staff may not be familiar with procedures in an emergency, posing a potential risk to the safety of babies and women.

Must-do action 3 of 8

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure robust review of incidents to ensure they are appropriately graded and managed to keep women and babies safe and ensure appropriate follow up care is provided.

Regulation: Regulation 17 (Good governance)

⚠ Some incidents, including post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) with significant blood loss, were graded as no or low harm, potentially missing opportunities for detailed review, learning, and ensuring appropriate follow-up care for women.

Must-do action 4 of 8

Must do

Well-led

The service must ensure leaders have sufficient oversight of the risk register, and that risks are managed, and mitigations are in place.

Regulation: Regulation 17 (Good governance)

⚠ There was insufficient oversight and management of the risk register; not all risk information was updated, actions were not clearly assigned or monitored, and mitigating actions were not always carried out regularly, leading to a potential risk to women’s and staff safety.

Must-do action 5 of 8

Must do

Well-led

The service must ensure a robust strategy and vision to set out clear objectives and direction for the service and staff.

Regulation: Regulation 17 (Good governance)

⚠ There was no clear vision or strategy in place for maternity services, a concern raised in the previous inspection, leading to a lack of clear objectives and strategic direction for staff and the service.

Must-do action 6 of 8

Must do

Effective

The service must ensure that women’s records are completed in line with trust policy.

Regulation: Regulation 17 (Good governance)

⚠ Women’s records were not always detailed, clear, up-to-date, or easy to navigate, with gaps found in 10 reviewed records, including missing times, domestic abuse screening, mental health assessments, and fetal movement recordings.

Must-do action 7 of 8

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure all steps are taken to appropriately manage and maintain safe staffing in the maternity unit.

Regulation: Regulation 18 (Staffing)

⚠ The service did not have enough maternity staff to keep women safe, with the number of midwives and maternity care assistants often not matching planned numbers. Gaps were not filled by agency staff, and reliance on existing staff working extra hours posed a risk to women’s safety and staff well-being.

Must-do action 8 of 8

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure the delivery suite coordinator is always supernumerary.

Regulation: Regulation 18 (Staffing)

⚠ The delivery suite coordinator was not supernumerary, which meant the service was not compliant with 'Safer Childbirth recommendations, October 2007', impacting effective oversight of birth activity.