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Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

NHS trust · ODS code RC9

About this trust

Type
NHS acute trust
Hospitals
7 on the CQC register
Website
www.ldh.nhs.uk

Care Quality Commission rating

Trust-wide rating, most recent inspection: 2022-12-16.

Good 3 of 4 CQC bands

Care Quality Commission, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-25.

What the CQC inspected

The CQC rates every service against five key questions. These are the ratings from the most recent inspection.

Safe
Requires improvement
Are people protected from abuse and avoidable harm?
Effective
Good
Does care, treatment and support achieve good outcomes and follow the best available evidence?
Caring
Good
Do staff involve and treat people with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect?
Responsive
Good
Are services organised to meet people's needs?
Well-led
Good
Do leadership, management and governance assure high-quality care?

Care Quality Commission, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-25.

What patients said

The NHS Friends and Family Test asks patients whether they would recommend the service. Responses for May 2026.

Inpatient care
96%
would recommend · 2,007 responses
A&E
79%
would recommend · 757 responses
Outpatient appointments
97%
would recommend · 1,427 responses

NHS England Friends and Family Test, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-25. 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.

62-day treatment
69%
% starting first cancer treatment within 62 days of an urgent GP referral
target 85%
28-day diagnosis
80%
% told they have cancer, or that they do not, within 28 days of an urgent referral
target 75%
31-day treatment
96%
% starting first treatment within 31 days of the decision to treat
target 96%

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 typeWithin 62 days
Breast65%
Lung56%
Bowel85%
Prostate52%
Skin92%
Gynaecological54%
Head and neck67%
Lymphoma80%
Oesophagus and stomach53%
Liver and bile duct50%
Other urological91%
Other blood44%

NHS England Cancer Waiting Times, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-25. 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.

As expected SHMI 0.961.00 = as expected

NHS Digital, Accredited Official Statistic, Open Government Licence v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-25. 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

Weeks from referral to treatment for NHS-funded care, across all this trust's sites.

Source: NHS England Referral to Treatment. Median wait is for the latest published month; the trend covers every month since we began keeping the series.
SpecialtyMedian waitWithin 18 weeksPatients waitingTrend
All specialties14 wks59%82,592no change since Jan 2026
Cardiology14 wks60%6,7301 week shorter since Jan 2026
Dermatology16 wks54%8,1971 week longer since Jan 2026
Ear, nose and throat15 wks56%7,724no change since Jan 2026
Elderly medicine9 wks77%3262 weeks longer since Jan 2026
Gastroenterology10 wks67%3,3462 weeks shorter since Jan 2026
General internal medicine9 wks88%7636 weeks longer since Jan 2026
General surgery15 wks56%3,8102 weeks longer since Jan 2026
Gynaecology13 wks66%6,4481 week longer since Jan 2026
Neurology15 wks59%2,6671 week longer since Jan 2026
Ophthalmology11 wks68%3,2851 week longer since Jan 2026
Oral surgery21 wks42%6,8861 week longer since Jan 2026
Other medical services10 wks73%2,7362 weeks longer since Jan 2026
Other services12 wks66%1,0621 week longer since Jan 2026
Other surgical services9 wks68%5,7353 weeks shorter since Jan 2026
Paediatric services14 wks60%5,3182 weeks longer since Jan 2026
Plastic surgery15 wks58%1,6032 weeks shorter since Jan 2026
Respiratory medicine12 wks68%3,493no change since Jan 2026
Rheumatology8 wks84%1,1792 weeks longer since Jan 2026
Trauma and orthopaedics21 wks42%6,749no change since Jan 2026
Urology13 wks63%4,5352 weeks longer since Jan 2026

NHS-funded care only. Retrieved 2026-10-25.

Hospitals in this trust

Each is inspected and rated separately.

Archer Unit

Bedford MK40 2NT

CQC rating No CQC rating

Castle Street

Luton LU1 3AG

CQC rating No CQC rating

Kingsway Medical Centre

Luton LU4 8BY

CQC rating No CQC rating

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Data shown with the date it was retrieved. Waiting times are NHS statistics for the named provider and change every month. How we source and check this.