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Hospitals

We inspect NHS hospitals in Wales to check people are receiving good care.

How we inspect

We inspect NHS hospitals in different ways, these include:

  • In-depth single ward inspections: we undertake a thorough and detailed review of one ward
  • Multi ward inspections: we visit a number of wards and departments within one hospital site to identify issues or themes which may apply to the whole hospital
  • Multi hospital inspections: we visit a number of hospitals within the same health board to assess the governance and delivery of whole services. 

We look at how services:

  • Meet the Quality Standards 2023
  • Meet any other relevant professional standards and guidance where applicable

Hospital inspections are usually unannounced. This allows us to see services in the way they usually operate. The service does not receive any advance warning of an unannounced inspection.

The inspections are conducted by at least one HIW inspector, external reviewer (with relevant professional experience) and voluntary lay reviewer (to speak to patients about their experiences of care).

The findings from our inspections are published to our website. 

If you would like a copy of our inspection workbooks please contact hiwinspections@gov.wales quoting which inspection type of workbook you require.