Salisbury District Hospital told to improve surgery services
Inspection highlights issues in safety and leadership, impacting overall hospital rating
Last updated 30th Jul 2026
Salisbury District Hospital has been told it needs to make improvements to improvement in its surgical services following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.
The CQC has rated the hospital as "requires improvement"
The inspection, conducted in September as part of routine monitoring, found breaches of regulations in safe care and treatment, as well as management concerns within the hospital's leadership.
The surgery service has been rated poorly for being well led and for safety, while ratings for effective, caring, and responsive remain good.
These findings, along with previous service assessments, have affected the hospital's overall rating, with the CQC declaring both its safety and leadership as requires improvement.
Concerns raised
Inspectors highlighted several areas requiring attention, including ineffective management of longstanding storage issues for surgical equipment and sterilised instrument packs.
This resulted in damaged packaging and uncertainty over the safety of instruments in theatre, posing an increased risk of infection.
There were also inefficiencies in managing patient flow, causing up to four-hour waits for ward beds in recovery and delays for patients arriving from the emergency department.
Additionally, the main theatres reception area failed to provide a suitable environment for admissions and discharges, lacking adequate privacy for clinical interactions.
Patients feel cared for
Despite these concerns, inspectors noted commendable aspects of the service.
Patients reported feelings of kindness, dignity, and respect in their treatment, with the day surgery unit receiving positive feedback from 98% of respondents, and surgical inpatient wards receiving 96%, according to the NHS Friends and Family Test.
The hospital maintained a stable nursing workforce, particularly in the day surgery unit, which recorded no nursing vacancies in the 12 months preceding the inspection.
This stability contributed positively to the quality of patient care.
Furthermore, Salisbury District Hospital excelled in key hip fracture outcomes, outperforming national averages in areas such as prompt surgery and early specialist review.
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust have commented on this:
“We acknowledge the findings of the Care Quality Commission following its inspection of surgical services at Salisbury District Hospital in September 2025 with the service rated good for being effective, caring and responsive and requires improvement for safety and being well led. We accept the areas identified for improvement.
We are pleased that the report also recognises the commitment of our staff and highlights areas of high-quality care being delivered for patients at Salisbury District Hospital.
We have already taken action in response to a number of the issues raised, with further improvements under way. This includes work to strengthen arrangements within our theatre environment, where plans are progressing. Longer-term improvements to our day surgery services will also be supported by the new Diagnostic and Surgical Hub once completed.
The change in the overall location rating reflects both the most recent surgical services inspection and a correction by the Care Quality Commission to the way historical ratings had previously been aggregated
We remain absolutely committed to providing safe, effective, patient centred and compassionate care for our patients, and will continue to work closely with colleagues, partners and regulators to drive further improvements.”