A South London hospital has been told it still needs to improve its services following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill has retained an overall ‘Requires Improvement’ rating after inspectors found staff didn’t consistently manage clinical risks promptly, while medical care and services for children and young people are below “the standard people should expect”.
The health watchdog carried out an inspection in April and May of last year and assessed the hospital’s maternity services, medical care, and services for children and young people.
In a CQC report which was published on March 4, 2026, the hospital’s maternity services and medical care have retained the same Requires Improvement rating they received in 2022, while services for children and young people have been downgraded from ‘Good’ to Requires Improvement.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said it has already taken action to address a number of areas of concern raised during last year’s inspection process.
The Trust is also taking action to ensure staff with the appropriate skills are deployed in the right areas, after inspectors found the hospital didn’t employ enough staff with the right skills and experience to deliver safe care.
During last year’s assessment, inspectors spoke with seven women who had used the hospital’s maternity services as well as staff from the maternity team including maternity assistants, midwives, resident doctors and registrars.
Inspectors said: “Women, and their families we spoke to were all positive about the staff treating them with warmth and kindness and providing effective care and treatment. Staff were described as caring, compassionate, excellent and professional. Staff took time to explain things clearly in a way they could understand.
“Women, and their families knew how to make a complaint and felt that their complaint would be acted on. They did not feel anxious about raising concerns. Women felt involved in the planning and decision-making about their care, including when plans had to change.”
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However, inspectors found staff didn’t always complete foetal monitoring risk assessments for women in maternity services, which could affect the safety of women and babies, while safeguarding guidance was not in date and staff did not manage medicines well.
Inspectors also found low levels of staffing in both medical care and services for children and young people, which was having an impact on the way services were run, and on staff wellbeing.
On services for children and young people, inspectors found three breaches of the regulations in relation to staffing, safeguarding and governance. Inspectors said staff did not always identify, understand and respond appropriately to the risk of abuse and neglect to children and young people, however they said people were treated with kindness and compassion.
Inspectors found many patients who were under medical care said staff also treated them with kindness, compassion and dignity, and they felt involved in their care and treatment.
The CQC has said it will continue to monitor the hospital’s services to ensure people receive safe care while improvements are being made.
Professor Clive Kay, CEO at the Trust, said: “The CQC’s inspections show that, in many areas, our teams are providing high quality care, and this is clearly valued by patients, and people who use our services. Our clinical outcomes are also excellent, and this has been the case for many years.”
He went on to say that it was clear that “we are not meeting the high standards that patients rightly expect, nor giving staff the support they need to deliver the best possible services for the communities we serve”.
Prof Kay added: “We have evidence that points to an improving culture within the organisation over the past 12 months, which is positive, but there is clearly more work to do, as we made clear to the CQC, and we will continue with our efforts to deliver improvements in this key area.”
