Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn ranked worst acute trust in England amid crumbling ceilings and long waits

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn has been ranked the lowest of 134 acute hospital trusts in England after a government analysis published this week highlighted long waiting times, safety concerns and an ageing building propped up with thousands of supports.

The National Oversight Framework data released by the Department of Health and Social Care placed 107 of the 134 acute trusts in the most challenged tiers; health secretary Wes Streeting said the public release was intended to “end the postcode lottery” and identify where urgent help is required. The Queen Elizabeth, which serves roughly 250,000 residents and opened in 1980, was singled out for particularly poor ratings across A&E performance, cancer waiting times and estate safety.

Hospital leaders and staff said the building’s structural problems are linked to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as RAAC, a lighter and less durable material used in construction between the 1950s and 1990s. Management said the hospital is in the fifth year of a RAAC rolling safety programme and currently uses 8,598 steel and timber support props across 56 areas of the site.

Paul Brooks, director of estates and facilities at the trust, said the hospital had been prioritised for a rebuild under the government’s New Hospital Programme and that the new facility was in the design phase and expected to open to patients in 2032. Previous plans had envisaged construction starting in 2025 at an estimated cost of £862 million; officials say the start has been pushed back by up to three years.

Staff, patients and local officials have described visible and audible signs of deterioration. A matron said specialist teams checked identified weak spots daily and that buckets had been placed under leaking roofs. An intensive care area was evacuated in 2021 amid concerns about a potential roof collapse and remained closed for about three weeks. Patients interviewed by local media have reported hearing creaking and cracking noises at night and described fear and distress while receiving care.

Former and current patients have also criticised clinical care and access. The hospital reported that just 52.1 percent of patients attending its emergency department were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in July, well below the NHS target of 95 percent. Cancer performance was also flagged: 53.4 percent of newly diagnosed cancer patients referred for urgent treatment were seen within two months, short of the 85 percent standard, and 86.9 percent of patients started treatment within 31 days in June against a 96 percent target. The proportion of patients with suspected cancer told whether they did or did not have the disease within the target time sat at 70 percent, below the 75 percent aim.

Following the latest Care Quality Commission inspection last year, the regulator rated the trust as "requires improvement," citing concerns in surgery, end-of-life care and outpatient services. The trust was placed in special measures in 2018, with particular concerns about maternity services; it was removed from special measures four years later.

Trust leaders acknowledged shortcomings and pointed to wider system pressures. Interim executive managing director Chris Brown said the trust was "sorry" it had fallen short in some performance areas and that immediate steps were being taken in partnership with the newly formed Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group, NHS England and regulators to deliver urgent improvements. He said staff were working under "very challenging circumstances."

Financial pressures have added to operational strain. In November the hospital closed 60 of 250 beds as part of measures to save about £5.5 million, with savings reallocated to fund community care. A former chief operating officer was tasked with finding £29.5 million of savings for the 2024–25 financial year, one of the largest required sums nationally, according to reporting by health sector publications.

Local residents and patient advocates stressed that staff were not solely to blame for performance failings, pointing instead to long-term underinvestment and delays in an approved rebuild. The government said its public release of trust rankings would help target support and investment where services are most challenged. Streeting said patients want an end to regional inconsistencies in care and that transparency would direct resources to the areas that need them most.

Officials reiterated that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital had been prioritised in the New Hospital Programme because of RAAC-related risks. Trust estate leaders said their RAAC safety programme aimed to create a steel support structure across the main hospital building while a new hospital is designed. The trust said construction remains on the programme, but that completion is not expected until 2032.

The hospital has been contacted previously for comment about patient complaints and structural safety. Trust executives said they are committed to supporting staff and implementing changes to improve performance and patient experience while the estate programme continues.

The public release of the oversight data aims to allow patients to see how local services are performing and to identify where urgent intervention is required. The rankings scored trusts across seven areas, including waiting times for operations, cancer treatment, time spent in A&E and ambulance response times, and showed the majority of acute trusts currently face significant challenges.

Health leaders, regulators and politicians will now face decisions about how quickly to address construction delays and whether additional short-term resources are needed to safeguard services while the new hospital is designed and built. The trust has said immediate mitigation measures remain in place and that staff continue to provide care under difficult conditions as plans for a replacement facility progress.