More patients for A&E due to junior doctors move

More emergency patients will have to be seen at Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital after health chiefs announced changes to junior doctors’ training because of staff shortages.

Inspectors from Health Education England (HEE) visited the Kent and Canterbury Hospital earlier this month, and said training standards for junior doctors were “inadequate” because of a lack of senior consultants to oversee them.

It recommended 42 of the 76 trainees be moved to either Ashford or to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate. The temporary change is likely to take place this summer, and health chiefs estimate it will affect 50 of the 900 patients who are usually seen each day at the hospital in Canterbury.

Eas t Kent NHS Tr u s t (EKHUFT) chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: “Over the next two to three months we will need to temporarily combine a limited number of services at the Kent and Canterbury with those at our hospitals at Ashford and Margate while we work on a sus- The William Harvey Hospital. Inset, trust chief executive Matthew Kershaw tainable solution.

“As a teaching trust, we are committed to providing high quality training and we will respond to any recommendations positively because we know that is best for both our junior doctors and for our patients.

“We are taking temporary steps so that we can continue to provide safe, high quality care for our patients and improve the quality of our medical training.

“We would like to reassure all patients who are expecting to come into hospital shortly that their appointment or procedure will take place as usual.”

The news follows a tough winter across the NHS, with longer waiting times at the Accident and Emergency Department at the William Harvey Hospital.

The trust was taken out of special measures in December, but has been struggling to see emergency patients within the four hour target time. But the trust says bringing more emergency patients to Ashford and to Margate will not add any extra burdens on staff.

Trust spokesman Steve James said: “The William Harvey Hos- pital will treat a small number of additional patients as a result of the temporary changes at Canterbury. The trust is in the process of identifying what, if any, additional support the hospital will need.

“Under the temporary changes, approximately 30 people who attend by ambulance would be taken to the Emergency Departments and Ashford and Margate. Complex trauma cases and many heart attack patients across Kent are already taken straight to the William Harvey Hospital, so will see no change.”