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About HCA Healthcare UK
Care Quality Commission
HCA Healthcare UK services are registered with the Care Quality Commission, known as CQC. We have the UK's highest rated family of private hospitals.
How are services regulated and rated?
About CQC
The CQC regulates all health and social care services in England. It’s a legal requirement to register with CQC. Once registered, services are subject to periodic inspections. Following an inspection, CQC applies an overall rating as well as rating services against five key areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led. For hospitals, the CQC also rates services, such as surgery and critical care.
HCA Healthcare UK's Hospital ratings
HCA Healthcare UK has nine hospitals registered with CQC. Our family of hospitals provides complex healthcare across a range of specialties to patients. This includes advanced cancer treatments, robotic surgery, critical care and treating complex medical conditions. 57% of our hospitals are rated as outstanding by CQC.
| Location | Current rating |
|---|---|
| The Wilmslow Hospital | ★ Outstanding |
| London Bridge Hospital | ★ Outstanding |
| The Christie Private Care | Inspected, not yet rated |
| The Harley Street Clinic | ★ Outstanding |
| The Lister Hospital | ★ Outstanding |
| The Harborne Hospital | Inspected, not yet rated |
| The Portland Hospital | ✓ Good |
| The Princess Grace Hospital | ✓ Good |
| The Wellington Hospital | ✓ Good |
HCA UK has the most outstanding rated hospitals
HCA UK has the most outstanding rated hospitals in the independent healthcare sector. The CQC has frequently rated our services as outstanding, and our ratings compare favourably with competitors and the independent sector in England as a whole.
We’re proud of the ratings that our facilities have achieved and we continually focus on providing that best possible care to patients - helping us to achieve outstanding CQC ratings.
57%rated outstanding
43%rated good
HCA UK vs the independent healthcare sector
| Hospital | Outstanding | Good | Requires improvement | Inadequate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HCA UK | 57 | 43 | 0 | 0 |
| Circle | 2.5 | 90 | 7.5 | 0 |
| Nuffield | 6 | 94 | 0 | 0 |
| Spire | 9 | 88 | 3 | 0 |
| IH overall | 4 | 7.5 | 15 | 4 |
Source: The state of healthcare and adult social care in England 2024/2025 - Care Quality Commission
Competitor data correct as of 16/01/2026. HCA data correct as of 09/04/2026
Please note that these figures represent the percentage of each provider’s hospitals for each CQC rating, rather than the number of hospitals with each rating.
A trusted benchmark for private care
Choosing private healthcare doesn't automatically mean better care. Whilst HCA UK offers the UK's highest rated family of private hospitals, the quality provided by other providers in the sector can vary.
The CQC's 2024-2025 report offers patients clear, reliable information to help them choose care with confidence. At HCA UK, we welcome this transparency.
For CQC data on the overall Independent Health sector, as well as further details of the inspection activity the CQC has carried out across health and social care services in England, view the full report.
What CQC says about our service
"All staff should be extremely proud of the care they're providing to people. They clearly work hard to provide exceptional care, and other services should look to this report to see what they can learn."
"We witnessed and were told of numerous examples of exceptional care, for example, staff arranged a family dinner for someone receiving end of life care and enabled another to meet their favourite music artist."
Chris Storton, CQC deputy director of operations in the north west about The Christie Hospital