Every year, DBTH provides more than one million episodes of care across its hospital services, from emergency and inpatient care to outpatient appointments and maternity services.
To help ensure patients receive consistently high standards of care across these services, clinical teams are regularly assessed against standards covering patient safety, clinical quality, patient experience, leadership and how teams learn and improve.
Known as the CARE (Care Accreditation Recognition for Excellence) Framework, the programme recognises services that are performing well while also identifying where further improvements can be made. It also helps teams share and learn from good practice across the Trust.
In the latest review, 30 clinical areas achieved accreditation during 2025/26 – six more than the previous year.
Seven clinical areas have now maintained accreditation for three consecutive years, demonstrating consistently high standards for patients. These are Ward C2, the Special Care Baby Unit and Ward A2 at Bassetlaw Hospital; Ward 26, Ward S10 and Ward 18 Haematology at Doncaster Royal Infirmary; and Rehabilitation Ward 2 at Montagu Hospital.
This year also marked the first time that emergency departments and outpatient services were included in the accreditation process, meaning a broader range of services used by patients are now assessed through the same approach. Seven outpatient departments achieved accreditation.
The review also introduced Accredited Plus, a new level of recognition for teams demonstrating exceptional practice through innovation and quality improvement work that has made a demonstrable difference to patients and their care.
Karen Jessop, Chief Nurse at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals, said: “I’m incredibly proud of what our teams have achieved. These results reflect the hard work, dedication and professionalism of colleagues right across the Trust and their commitment to providing the best possible care for our patients.
“While this is something to celebrate, we know there is always more we can do. The CARE Framework helps us monitor the quality of our services, celebrate good practice, identify where improvements are needed and ensure we continue to raise standards for the benefit of our patients.”
The CARE Framework forms part of DBTH’s wider approach to monitoring and improving the quality of its services, helping to provide assurance about standards while supporting teams to identify and act on opportunities to improve patient care and experience.