Home › Dorset County Hospital
Dorset County Hospital
Williams Avenue, Dorchester, DT1 2JY · NHS England South West (South West South)
Rated Requires improvement by the CQC at its last published inspection. Trust-wide at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, 9 in 10 patients would recommend it. The shortest published NHS wait across this NHS trust is 6 weeks.
About this provider
- Funding
- NHS
- Website
- dchft.nhs.uk
- Telephone
- 01305251150
- CQC provider ID
- RBD
- CQC location ID
- RBD01
Care Quality Commission rating
Most recent inspection: 2023-11-02.
Rating at each inspection
| 2023-11-02 | Requires improvement |
| 2023-02-17 | Inspected but not rated |
| 2018-11-06 | Good |
| 2016-08-16 | Requires improvement |
Care Quality Commission, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-08-30. CQC uses a four-band scale and does not issue a star rating.
Specialties treated here
NHS specialties with a published waiting time at this NHS trust. Select one for how it compares across the area.
What patients said
The NHS Friends and Family Test asks patients whether they would recommend the service. Responses for May 2026. These figures are for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and cover all its hospitals.
NHS England Friends and Family Test, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-08-30. The FFT is not a formal performance measure and response rates vary between services.
Cancer waiting times
How quickly this trust diagnoses and starts treatment for people referred with a suspicion of cancer. Data for March 2026. Targets are the NHS operational standards. No English region currently meets the 62-day standard. These figures are for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs this hospital.
target 85%
62-day treatment by cancer type
The share of patients who began treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral, for each type this trust reports. The national aim is 85%. Numbers per type are smaller, so they move more from month to month.
| Cancer type | Within 62 days |
|---|---|
| Lung | 25% |
| Prostate | 0% |
| Gynaecological | 0% |
| Head and neck | 67% |
| Oesophagus and stomach | 0% |
| Liver and bile duct | 100% |
| Other urological | 50% |
NHS England Cancer Waiting Times, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-08-30. Provisional monthly data. Small numbers of patients can move a percentage sharply.
Mortality (SHMI)
The Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator compares the number of people who die after care at this trust with the number expected, given how ill the patients were. Rolling 12 months to August 2025. This figure is for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs this hospital.
NHS Digital, Accredited Official Statistic, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-08-30. The SHMI is not a measure of the quality of care and a “higher than expected” band is a flag for further investigation, not a judgement. It must not be used to rank trusts. It does not include deaths of patients receiving palliative care where that is coded.
NHS waiting times, trust-wide
Waiting times are reported by NHS trusts, not by individual hospitals. These figures are for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs this hospital along with its other sites. Waits at this site may differ.
| Specialty | Median wait | Within 18 weeks | Patients waiting |
|---|---|---|---|
| All specialties | 13 wks | 60% | 22,644 |
| Cardiology | 15 wks | 57% | 1,796 |
| Dermatology | 9 wks | 65% | 1,519 |
| Ear, nose and throat | 16 wks | 54% | 3,015 |
| Elderly medicine | 10 wks | 70% | 70 |
| Gastroenterology | 10 wks | 75% | 968 |
| General internal medicine | 6 wks | 90% | 10 |
| General surgery | 17 wks | 50% | 1,293 |
| Gynaecology | 13 wks | 64% | 1,310 |
| Ophthalmology | 8 wks | 76% | 2,383 |
| Oral surgery | 15 wks | 57% | 1,698 |
| Other medical services | 11 wks | 67% | 1,640 |
| Other services | 33 wks | 0% | 1 |
| Other surgical services | 7 wks | 79% | 1,491 |
| Paediatric services | 17 wks | 52% | 318 |
| Respiratory medicine | 8 wks | 80% | 306 |
| Trauma and orthopaedics | 21 wks | 42% | 3,483 |
| Urology | 12 wks | 63% | 1,343 |
NHS-funded care only. Does not reflect private appointment availability. Retrieved 2026-08-30.