Croydon University Hospital gets surprise inspection – legal regulations breached but staff are ‘kind’

Overcrowding, corridor care and lengthy delays continue to put patients at risk however staff were seen to act with kindness and warmth towards patients

Croydon University Hospital remains in breach of legal regulations over the use of ‘corridor care’ after a surprise inspection found some patients spent more than five days in A&E.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has again rated the hospital’s emergency department as ‘Requires Improvement’, with no change from last year’s inspection.

During an unannounced inspection on March 6, the report for which has just been released, the CQC found that between 680 and 815 patients a month waited more than 12 hours for an inpatient bed. The longest stays at the A&E department on London Road ranged from 34 hours to more than 127 hours – more than five days in the most extreme cases.

Inspectors said the longest delays largely affected adults experiencing mental health crises, with some patients left in unsuitable environments that increased the risk of their condition deteriorating.

Corridor care was another concern raised by inspectors, who found staff were routinely caring for patients in corridors and other non-clinical escalation areas due to sustained pressure on capacity.

The report, published on Thursday (June 25), stated: “We saw doctors talking with patients, delivering news to them and discussing plans for their care in areas which did not preserve privacy and confidentiality.”

The CQC said this meant the department remained in breach of legal regulations relating to privacy and dignity, following its previous inspection in July 2025. During last summer’s inspection, the CQC also found “staff had to care for many people in areas such as corridors and an internal clinical waiting area”.

The report highlighted safety concerns for vulnerable patients requiring constant observation. It found that between September 2025 and February 2026, there were 80 incidents of mental health patients absconding from the department.

In 79 of those cases, police were contacted, with inspectors saying this demonstrated “a reliance on external agencies to manage absconding events”.

The report states that between March 2025 and February 2026, the hospital received 114 complaints, most of which related to the emergency department. Inspectors added that staff were not effectively embedding learning from previous absconding incidents, limiting efforts to prevent repeat occurrences.

Elsewhere, inspectors raised concerns that mandatory safeguarding training in the department fell short of the trust’s 90% target. It found that only 51.2% of staff had completed adult safeguarding training, while inspectors found there was “no shared or well-understood process” for raising concerns about vulnerable adults.

‘Warmth and kindness’

Despite these concerns, inspectors praised frontline staff in the busy A&E department, with patients reporting they were treated with warmth and kindness. Inspectors found that 89% of patients said they were treated with respect and dignity, while 95% said they felt listened to by doctors and nurses.

In response, the trust has introduced several measures aimed at reducing the risks associated with overcrowding, including a full capacity protocol, a new medical assessment area to improve patient flow, and dedicated housing officers to support homeless patients.

Inspectors welcomed steps to prevent children and patients with suspected infectious diseases from being placed in corridor care areas, while additional security staff and healthcare assistants had been deployed to improve patient observation.

However, inspectors concluded that although leaders understood the pressures facing the department, governance arrangements had “not consistently resulted in sufficient or sustained improvements in safety, flow or patient experience”.

They said the emergency department would remain under significant pressure until wider issues around hospital capacity and delayed discharges into social care are resolved.

A spokesperson for Croydon Health Services NHS Trust said: “We welcome the Care Quality Commission’s report and the recognition of the compassion, kindness and professionalism shown by our staff working in urgent and emergency care.

“The report highlights that improvements have been made in patient safety. However, we fully recognise that further work is needed, particularly in relation to privacy and dignity and the impact of long waits on our patients.

“Like many NHS organisations, we continue to face sustained and significant pressure on our emergency department and have already introduced measures to support our staff and improve the experience of our patients, including increased staffing and additional assessment capacity. We also continue to work closely with partners across the local health and care system to improve patient flow and reduce waiting times.”

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