Source · CQC inspection

John Radcliffe Hospital

Provider Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region South East Last inspected 4 Jun 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 4 June 2026
The service is not performing as well as it should and we have told the service how it must improve.
Date of assessment: 7 October to 10 October 2025.John Radcliffe Hospital provides a range of acute services, including major trauma, intensive care, cardiothoracic and maternity services.We carried out a responsive assessment of the maternity services, including community, antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, due to an increased number of concerns and complaints being raised by members of the public. At this assessment the rating has improved to good.However, we found breaches of regulation in safe care and treatment, premises and equipment, good governance and staffing.The rating from the maternity service has …

Ratings by service

Maternity
Good
Jul 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 (2)

Breach Safe
However, we found breaches of regulation in safe care and treatment, premises and equipment, good governance and staffing.
Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 4 Jun 2026
Breach Safe
However, we rated safe as requires improvement as we found 7 breaches in regulations which related to safe care and treatment, environment, infection prevention control, staffing, and good governance.
Regulation: Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) · 4 Jun 2026

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 7 should-do

Should-do actions (7)

Recommended improvements to enhance service quality.

Should-do action 1 of 7
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure that the staffing skill mix and agency/bank usage meets the requirements as set out in The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine ‘Guidelines for the Provision of Intensive Care Services’.
Regulation: Regulation 18
Should-do action 2 of 7
Should do
Effective
The trust should ensure the unit meets National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines regarding intensive care access to speech and language therapists (SALT).
Regulation: Regulation 18
Should-do action 3 of 7
Should do
Responsive
The trust should consider progressing their plans to introduce a critical care outreach team.
Should-do action 4 of 7
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure medical staff mandatory training rates meet or exceed the trust target.
Regulation: Regulation 18
Should-do action 5 of 7
Should do
Safe
The trust should ensure a patient prioritisation document is developed to enable staff to prioritise conflicting patient demands on the unit.
Regulation: Regulation 12
Should-do action 6 of 7
Should do
Well-led
The trust should consider reviewing how teams communicate across the trust structure and implement an improvement plan.
Should-do action 7 of 7
Should do
Well-led
The trust should ensure local audits are completed in line with the audit schedule and used to assess the quality and safety of the service.
Regulation: Regulation 17

Location details

CQC ID: RTH08
Local authority: Oxfordshire
Region: South East

Inspection report

Type: Location
Date: 6 April 2023
Rating: Inspected but not rated
Actions: 7 should-do
AI-extracted 3 Jun 2026