Patients arriving at Ipswich Hospital's A&E department face waits of up to 20 hours before they are treated, according to a new report released today by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
A new inspection from the care watchdog shows that Ipswich Hospital 'requires improvement' and identified "some risks to people's safety" despite "kind and hardworking staff".
The inspection, carried out in September 2025 showed that whilst there had been some effort to improve services following on from the last inspection in 2021, there was not enough evidence of positive change to upgrade the rating.
Therefore the rating of 'requires improvement' remains the same, with the CQC also issuing a warning notice to East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) which runs the hospital.
Inspectors found staff had not been washing their hands in between contact with patients, with one staff member observed touching five patients before washing their hands, raising the risk of spreading infection.
Mental capacity assessments were not always documented clearly and emergency care staff didn’t clearly record some people giving informed consent to care.
Some training, including safeguarding was not up to date and some patients were not informed about wait times or when they might discharged.
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Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of hospitals in the East of England, said that "staff were kind and working hard to meet people’s needs under high pressure, but weren’t always able to do so safely."
She added: "Staff weren’t able to triage everyone arriving at the emergency department within their goal of 15 minutes, and some people waited up to 20 hours to be treated or admitted to the medical wards.
"During this time, staff didn’t always monitor them closely enough to keep people safe from risks of deterioration.
“When people were admitted, staff couldn’t always place them on the most appropriate ward, as there wasn’t enough capacity.
"This was partly because staff on the medical wards were struggling to discharge people who were ready to leave the hospital but couldn’t, such as for those awaiting social care from other organisations."
The inspection and warning notice was issued whilst Nick Hulme was in charge of the trust, but Mr Hulme announced his resignation from the post before leaving at the start of 2026.
Adrian Marr was appointed interim chief executive of ESNEFT with the departure of Mr Hulme.
In the wake of the report, Mr Marr said: “While we are disappointed with the overall rating, the report also reflects the dedication, compassion and professionalism shown by our staff.
“We recognise the areas where we must do better, and we are already acting on the CQC’s findings. I want to thank all our teams for their ongoing commitment and kindness.
“We will continue to work at pace to deliver the improvements our patients and their families rightly expect."
ESNEFT chief nurse Catherine Morgan said: “Providing consistently safe, high‑quality and compassionate care is at the heart of everything we do.
“We take the CQC’s feedback extremely seriously but also acknowledge that the inspection reflects a moment in time. Our teams have already taken significant steps forward since the visit. We remain fully committed to building on that progress.”
CQC inspections into services run by ESNEFT
Ipswich Hospital was rated as "required improvement" by CQC following its previous inspection in January 2020 with a number of issues highlighted.
Last year, just after the reinspection of the hospital took place a warning notice was issued, ordering the hospital to improve its services.
Colchester Hospital, also run by ESNEFT was similar rated as "requires improvement" by CQC last year, with the report published in October 2025.
ESNEFT as a service provider was also rated as "requires improvement" at a inspection of its services as a whole in 2019.
Long time chief executive Nick Hulme stepped down from his position as ESNEFT chief at the end of last year.
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