Six in ten NHS A&E departments failing inspection, Sun on Sunday analysis finds
A Sun on Sunday analysis of inspection data finds six in ten NHS A&E departments below standard, with more than 100 ordered to improve.
Six out of ten NHS accident and emergency departments are below standard and failing inspection, according to a Sun on Sunday analysis of Care Quality Commission data.
Of 174 A&E units inspected, one received the lowest rating of “inadequate” while 100 others were rated “requires improvement” — 101 of 174, or 58 per cent. Just one in four units inspected in 2025 or this year passed muster, and some failures date back as far as 2018. More than 100 departments have been ordered to improve by the watchdog.
The CQC said: “Patient safety is still a real worry.” The NHS Alliance, which represents health service bosses, said: “The scale of the challenge facing emergency care is significant. It requires focusing on more than A&E services on their own.”
An NHS spokesman said the service was sharing best-practice examples with challenged A&Es, “but we know there is more to be done”.
The analysis follows a University of Glasgow study presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress, which estimated overcrowding could be linked to between 500 and 1,000 deaths a week — a study Flip News covered on 25 September.
Sources: The Sun on Sunday
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