Patient safety

East Kent Hospitals FT recommended to be taken out of special measures

East Kent Hospitals University NHS FT has finally improved enough for it to be taken out of special measures, the CQC has said.

The hospital trust was put into special measures in September 2014 because of “serious failures” in patient safety and leadership.

The trust runs the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, the Kent and Canterbury in Canterbury, the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate, the Buckland in Dover, and the Royal Victoria in Folkestone.

England's chief inspector of hospitals, Prof Sir Mike Richards said: “At our last inspection in July 2015, we noted that although East Kent Hospitals University NHS FT had made significant improvements in quality, we needed to see those improvements embedded in practice.”

CQC inspectors recently visited the hospitals again, focusing on emergency care, medical services, maternity and gynaecology, and end of life care.

While inspectors rated the quality of care provided by the William Harvey, QEQM and Kent and Canterbury hospitals as “requires improvement”,  the improvements that had been made were deemed sufficient enough for Prof Richards to recommend that the trust be taken out of special measures.

The trust’s chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: “We have made some investments already in staffing levels in maternity and improvements in equipment.

“Both of those have more to do but we have made real strides in both those areas across both of our main sites.”

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