Hospital's surgery services 'require improvement'

A hospital has been told it must create an action plan after inspectors raised concerns about surgery there.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its findings after visiting Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire in September 2025.

The hospital was rated as "requires improvement" for its surgical services, with inspectors warning there was "uncertainty" about whether some medical instruments were safe to use. Some other areas of the hospital were praised by patients, however.

The hospital, part of the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, said it had already taken action with further improvements planned to provide "safe, effective, patient-centred and compassionate care".

The CQC said the hospital "had not effectively addressed longstanding storage issues for surgical equipment and sterilised instrument packs".

This resulted in damaged packaging and uncertainty about whether instruments were safe to use in theatre, increasing infection risk for patients.

Inspectors also found some patients were waiting up to four hours for a ward bed, which caused delays for other people arriving for surgery from the emergency department.

"The service did not provide a suitable environment for admissions and discharges, as the main theatre's reception area lacked adequate privacy for clinical interactions," the CQC report continued.

A spokesperson for Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust said: "We accept the areas identified for improvement.

"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 siagnostic and surgical hub once completed."

The inspection in September was carried out as part of CQC's routine monitoring of hospital services.

CQC inspectors also found that the day surgery unit received 98% positive responses with surgical inpatient wards feeding back a similar 96%.

The service performed well in maintaining a stable nursing workforce and the service also performed above national averages on key hip fracture outcomes.

The full report will be published on CQC's website in the coming days.

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