# HospitalCheck

> An independent, plain-English profile of every NHS acute hospital in England,
> plus NHS Scotland by health board. It brings together official public data:
> waiting times (RTT), A&E 4-hour performance, CQC inspection ratings,
> healthcare-associated infections, estates "hotel factors" (parking, food,
> single rooms, maintenance backlog), cleanliness (PLACE), mortality (SHMI),
> cancer and diagnostic waits — one profile per hospital and per trust, plus
> national overviews and league tables. Not affiliated with the NHS. Every
> figure is reused unmodified under the Open Government Licence v3.0, with the
> period and source shown against each number. A fuller machine-readable version
> is at https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/llms-full.txt.

## Core pages
- [Hospitals A-Z](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/hospitals): one profile per acute hospital in England
- [Trusts](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/trusts): the NHS trust that runs each hospital — canonical home of trust-wide figures
- [Find near you](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/find): hospitals near a postcode, nearest first
- [Waiting times by specialty](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/waiting-times): every trust ranked, per treatment specialty
- [League tables](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings): trusts and hospitals ranked on each measure
- [NHS waiting list](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/nhs-waiting-list): the weekly England total (WLMDS)
- [NHS A&E performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/nhs-ae-performance): England 4-hour A&E performance, monthly
- [CQC ratings](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/cqc-ratings): distribution of hospital CQC ratings across England
- [Scotland](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/scotland): NHS Scotland A&E, waiting times, cancer & diagnostics by health board (measured separately from England — never ranked against it)
- [Wales](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/wales): NHS Wales RTT, A&E, cancer, diagnostics and ambulance response times by health board and named hospital site (measured separately from England and Scotland — never ranked against either)
- [Private hospitals](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/private): CQC-rated independent hospitals in England (Spire, Nuffield Health, Circle Health Group, Ramsay and others), regulated by the Care Quality Commission and shown in their own isolated section — never ranked against NHS hospitals
- [Compare](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/compare): two hospitals or two trusts side by side
- [Open data](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/data): download the underlying data as CSV (OGL v3.0)
- [Methodology](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology): where every number comes from

## Guides
- [Your right to choose which hospital treats you](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/guides/right-to-choose)
- [NHS waiting times explained](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/guides/nhs-waiting-times-explained)
- [Frequently asked questions](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/guides/faq)
- [How to choose a hospital](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/guides/how-to-choose-a-hospital)

## League tables
- [NHS trusts with the longest waiting lists](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/longest-waiting-lists)
- [NHS trusts with the most year-long waits](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/year-long-waits)
- [NHS trusts ranked by 18-week performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/18-week-performance)
- [NHS trusts with the longest typical waits](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/longest-typical-waits)
- [NHS trusts ranked by A&E four-hour performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/ae-four-hour-performance)
- [NHS trusts with the most 12-hour A&E trolley waits](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/twelve-hour-trolley-waits)
- [Hospitals with the most expensive parking](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/most-expensive-hospital-parking)
- [Hospitals with the biggest maintenance backlog](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/biggest-maintenance-backlog)
- [Hospitals with the highest catering cost per meal](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/highest-catering-cost-per-meal)
- [NHS trusts with the worst 62-day cancer waits](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/longest-cancer-62-day-waits)
- [NHS trusts with the worst 28-day cancer diagnosis performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/worst-cancer-28-day-diagnosis)
- [NHS trusts with the worst 31-day cancer treatment performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/rankings/worst-cancer-31-day-treatment)

## Methodology (data sources & definitions)
- [Referral to Treatment (RTT) waiting times](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/rtt)
- [A&E attendances & 4-hour performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/ae)
- [CQC inspection ratings](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/cqc)
- [NHS Organisation Data Service (org register)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/ods)
- [Healthcare-associated infections](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/hcai)
- [Estates (ERIC) — parking, food, rooms, backlog](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/eric)
- [Cancer waiting times (28/62/31-day)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/cancer)
- [Diagnostic waiting times (DM01)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/dm01)
- [Mortality (SHMI)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/shmi)
- [Cleanliness & environment (PLACE)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/place)
- [Weekly waiting list (WLMDS, national)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/wlmds)
- [Friends & Family Test (patient experience)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/fft)
- [Cancelled elective operations (QMCO)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/cancelled-ops)
- [Never Events (patient safety)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/never-events)
- [Maternity — patient experience (CQC National Maternity Survey)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/maternity)
- [Cancer patient experience (National Cancer Patient Experience Survey)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/cpes)
- [NHS Scotland A&E](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/scotland-ae)
- [NHS Scotland waiting times (Stage of Treatment)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/scotland-waits)
- [NHS Scotland cancer waiting times](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/scotland-cancer)
- [NHS Scotland diagnostic waiting times](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/scotland-diagnostics)
- [NHS Wales referral to treatment (RTT) waiting times](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/wales-rtt)
- [NHS Wales A&E performance](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/wales-ae)
- [NHS Wales cancer waiting times (Single Cancer Pathway)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/wales-cancer)
- [NHS Wales diagnostic waiting times](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/wales-diagnostics)
- [NHS Wales ambulance response times](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/wales-ambulance)
- [Private / independent hospitals (CQC)](https://hospitalcheck.co.uk/methodology/private-hospitals)

## Notes for reuse
- Waiting times, A&E, cancer, diagnostics, infections and mortality are published per NHS trust, not per building; the same values apply to every hospital a trust runs (shown labelled "Trust-wide").
- CQC ratings, estates (ERIC) and cleanliness (PLACE) are genuinely per-hospital.
- SHMI is a mortality screening indicator, NOT a death rate — a value above 1.00 is a prompt to investigate, not proof of poor care.
- Scotland is a separate health system: its A&E 4-hour and 12-week waiting standards are measured differently from England's, so Scottish and English figures are never combined in one ranking.
- Wales is a separate health system too: its RTT (95% within 26 weeks), A&E (95% within 4 hours), cancer (75% within 62 days), diagnostics (no patient over 8 weeks) and ambulance measures are all defined differently from England and Scotland, so Welsh figures are never combined with either. Wales publishes at health-board level, plus named A&E hospital sites for A&E performance specifically.
- Private/independent hospitals are a separate SECTOR, not a separate nation: they are regulated by the CQC (the same regulator as NHS England hospitals) but carry no NHS waiting-time, A&E or outcome data, so they are shown in their own isolated /private section and never ranked or compared against NHS hospitals. Only CQC-rated independent hospitals are published; unrated locations are omitted. Reused under OGL v3.0, licensed from the Care Quality Commission — no PHIN (private-pay volumes/fees/outcomes) data is included.
- Update cadence: waiting times, A&E, cancer, diagnostics (DM01), SHMI mortality and WLMDS monthly (~6-week lag); HCAI infections and Scottish cancer & diagnostics quarterly; Welsh RTT/A&E/cancer/diagnostics/ambulance monthly; CQC as inspections publish; ERIC & PLACE annual.