Source · CQC inspection

The Countess of Chester Hospital

Provider Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region North West Last inspected 31 Jul 2026

Location rating: Requires Improvement View location on CQC

Location ratings by domain

Five CQC key questions

Ratings held for this CQC location under the Single Assessment Framework, assessed 31 July 2026. Ratings extracted from individual reports are shown separately below.

Safe

Requires Improvement

Effective

Requires Improvement

Caring

Good

Responsive

Requires Improvement

Well-led

Requires Improvement

CQC assessments indexed

Single Assessment Framework

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

Requires Improvement

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

The Countess of Chester Hospital is registered with CQC to deliver the regulation activities: Maternity and midwifery services, Termination of pregnancies, Family planning, Treatment of disease, disorder or injury, Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, Surgical procedures and Diagnostic and screening procedures.We assessed 3 assessment service groups at this location. We conducted an on-site, comprehensive assessment visit of urgent and emergency care services, medical care (including older people’s care) and end of life care services on 27 to 29 October 2025. We assessed …

Ratings by service

End of life care

Good

Aug 2025

Medical care (Including older people's care)

Good

Aug 2025

Urgent and emergency services

Requires Improvement

Aug 2025

Urgent and emergency services

Inadequate

Jan 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.

Warning notice Overall

We carried out this assessment to review the progress made against a Warning Notice that was served to the trust following the inspection in February 2025.

· 31 Jul 2026 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

The assessment of urgent and emergency care was to review the progress made against a warning notice that was served on the provider following an inspection in February 2025.

· 31 Jul 2026 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

We found the service had made improvements and had met some of the actions of the warning notices.

· 31 Jul 2026 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

The warning notice told the trust it must make significant improvements to the quality of healthcare provided by the trust's urgent and emergency care services.

· 8 Aug 2025 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

Following the assessment, we issued the trust a warning notice under Section 29a of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 on 4 April 2025.

· 8 Aug 2025 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

The warning notice told the trust it must make significant improvements to the quality of healthcare provided by the trust’s urgent and emergency care services.

· 8 Aug 2025 · CQC source

Warning notice Caring

The warning notice was issued due to breaches of 5 of the legal regulations in relation to dignity and respect, safeguarding from abuse and improper treatment, premises and equipment, governance and staffing.

Regulation: Regulation 10 (Dignity and respect) · 8 Aug 2025 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

Following the assessment, we issued the trust a warning notice under Section 29A of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 on 4 April 2025.

· 8 Aug 2025 · CQC source

Breaches identified (6)

Breach Responsive

We found the service was in breach of the legal regulation person-centred care.

Regulation: Regulation 9 (Person-centred care) · 31 Jul 2026

Breach Responsive

However, the service remained in breach of 5 regulations related to good governance, staffing, safe care and treatment, premises and equipment and person-centred care.

Regulation: Regulation 9 (Person-centred care) · 31 Jul 2026

Breach Caring

We visited the following areas as part of this assessment: The Countess of Chester Hospital Emergency Department The Countess of Chester Hospital Urgent Treatment Centre The service was previously in breach of the legal regulations in relation to dignity and respect, safeguarding from abuse and improper treatment, premises and equipment, governance and staffing.

Regulation: Regulation 10 (Dignity and respect) · 31 Jul 2026

Breach Responsive

At this assessment we identified breaches of regulations person-centred care, safe care and treatment, premises and equipment, good governance and staffing.

Regulation: Regulation 9 (Person-centred care) · 31 Jul 2026

Breach Safe

The service was in breach of the legal regulations in related to safe care and treatment, premises and equipment and staffing.

Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 31 Jul 2026

Breach Overall

We rated urgent and emergency care inadequate in 2 key questions, with repeated breaches of the legal regulations.

· 8 Aug 2025