The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its latest Well-Led assessment of The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT), rating the Trust as requires improvement. Alongside this, the latest CQC Adult Inpatient Survey results show significant improvement in the experience of patients receiving inpatient care.
PAHT fully acknowledges the Well-Led findings and the need to respond with clear, sustained action. The report gives a balanced assessment, recognising visible and capable leaders, positive partnership working, progress on sustainability and the important role of the Trust’s Patient Panel in bringing the patient voice into decision-making. It also highlights areas where further improvement is needed, including organisational culture, colleague engagement, equality, diversity and inclusion, speaking up, governance, learning from experience and the consistency of inpatient care.
At the same time, the Adult Inpatient Survey results provide important evidence of improvement since the assessment period. Based on feedback from 422 people who received inpatient care at the Trust in 2025, patient experience scores were higher than the previous year for 40 of the 42 survey questions that could be compared, with no areas where scores declined.
Patients continue to rate the Trust highly for kindness and compassion, respect and dignity, cleanliness, privacy, pain control, confidence and trust in nurses, and being able to get help when needed.
Since the assessment, PAHT has made wider progress in a number of key areas. The Trust has improved from National Oversight Framework (NOF) Segment 4 to Segment 3, with its national NOF position moving from 120th out of 134 trusts in Quarter 1 to 85th by Quarter 4. Between April 2025 and May 2026, its 18-week Referral to Treatment performance increased to 66.8%, an improvement of 18 percentage points, while 4-hour Emergency Department performance rose to 78.2% in June 2026, almost 10 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Thom Lafferty, Chief Executive of The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT), said: “The Adult Inpatient Survey results are an important marker of progress and show that the changes being made across our Trust are starting to make a real difference for patients.
“Improvement in 40 of the 42 comparable questions, with no areas where scores declined, is significant. It reflects the focus and effort of teams across PAHT to listen, learn and improve care.
“We fully acknowledge the findings of the Well-Led report and the areas where we must improve. The report is clear about the work still needed on culture, governance, speaking up, learning and the consistency of inpatient care, and we are responding with clear, sustained action.
“We are not yet where we want to be in every area. Our focus now is on embedding improvement, acting on feedback, and making sure every patient feels informed, involved, listened to and supported.”
The Trust has also achieved record levels of engagement in the NHS Staff Survey at 65%, delivered improvements across workforce metrics including training and appraisal, with much of its performance amongst the best in the East of England region, and delivered its 2025/26 financial position.
As host provider for West Essex Place, PAHT is also helping to lead work to move more care into community and neighbourhood settings, including its role as part of the Neighbourhood NHS Implementation Programme.
PAHT said it will continue to monitor progress through patient feedback, staff feedback, performance data and governance oversight to ensure improvements are embedded.