Western Isles Hospital – Unannounced follow up inspection report October 2025
Document Type
Inspection reports
NHS hospitals and services
Summary
We carried out an unannounced inspection of Western Isles Hospital, NHS Western Isles on 3 – 4 September 2024. As well as noting eight areas of good practice, a total of 22 requirements were made to the NHS board.
We returned to carry out an unannounced follow-up inspection of Western Isles Hospital in conjunction with a maternity safe delivery of care inspection on 13 – 14 October 2025. This was to assess progress made against the actions contained within NHS Western Isles improvement action plans.
During our follow-up inspection, we revisited several of the areas previously inspected to provide assurance of improvement within these areas. In addition to the following areas, colleagues from our maternity inspection team also visited the maternity unit within Western Isles Hospital. We inspected the following areas:
• acute assessment unit
• ambulatory care ward
• day surgery unit
• emergency department
• medical ward 1
• medical ward 2, and
• surgical ward.
We reviewed progress made against the previous inspection requirements and the NHS board’s subsequent improvement action plans to provide assurance that all actions were completed or where actions remain outstanding, progress has been made.
As part of our inspection, we also asked NHS Western Isles to provide evidence of its policies and procedures relevant to the focus of this inspection. The purpose of this is to limit the time the inspection team is onsite and reduce the burden on ward staff.
Our findings
This follow-up inspection resulted in three areas of good practice, no recommendations and five new or updated requirements. Six previous requirements were not met and have been carried forward.