Scandal-hit trust promises better care at hospitals

Chief governor wants world-leading services

Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital is run by the East Kent Hospitals Trust

Bosses at the scandal-hit East Kent Hospitals Trust say they are determined to improve its services and ensure it can carry on offering “some of the best healthcare treatment in the world”.

The pledge comes amid a turbulent time for the organisation, which has faced a string of troubles in recent months - including having the country’s highest Covid-19 death toll throughout June and July.

An inspection by the Care Quality Commission in August discovered some staff were not wearing masks correctly, did not always use hand sanitiser and were not adhering to social distancing.

The trust is also being criminally prosecuted for its handling of the death of baby Harry Richford amid a wider independent investigation into failures in its maternity services.

But speaking at an annual general meeting held virtually last Thursday, management chiefs say improvements are being made across the board.

Board of directors and governors chairman Stephen Smith said: “We are very mindful of the situation of the trust and we are listening and working desperately hard to sort the problems and issues out.

“Every single member of our staff has been quite extraordinary.

“We are dedicated to ensuring we provide some of the best health services in the world.”

Statistics shown at the AGM reveal waiting times at the trust’s A& E departments remained at constant levels compared with last year - result

ing in 78% of patients being seen within four hours.

That figure is below the national average of 86%.

The trust’s chief executive, Susan Acott, partly blamed long waiting times on the increasing population, saying: “We did find emergency care challenging and our performance is not where we want it to be.

“We’ve had consistent performance, which is less than where we’d like it to be, but we are determined to make continual efforts to find ways of improving our waiting times.

“The amount of housebuilding going on is substantial - it’s extremely obvious when driving around.

“That is an ongoing challenge. As much as we try and expand our services and increase staff, the volume of people moving to east Kent is absolutely phenomenal.”

The issue of long waiting times has, however, been far from the biggest facing the trust this year.

The CQC last week charged the organisation with exposing Harry Richford and his mother Sarah to significant risk of avoidable harm at the QEQM hospital in Margate.

Baby Harry tragically died aged just seven days old after a traumatic birth.

Speaking at the AGM, Ms Acott apologised for the trust’s failings and detailed the changes being made on maternity wards.

She said: “We are profoundly sorry and apologise unreservedly for our failings. We welcome the independent investigation and are doing all we can to support it.

“When the service was inspected by the CQC in January, they recognised the improvements that were underway. But they confirmed we still need further development - particularly in the way women and their families experienced our services if they had a loss.

“Since that time we have been successful in recruiting 13 new consultants.

“That allows an increasing presence on the labour ward and improved communication, and allows senior intervention into the decision being made around the woman in labour.

“We have early evidence this really does improve outcomes.”

A point of significant improvement since 2018 is in the number of patients waiting more than a year for planned care. The total has been lowered from 201 to just two.

Ms Acott also highlighted a boost for cancer treatment across east Kent, with 98% of patients now seeing a specialist within two weeks of urgent referral.

“We were towards the bottom of the league tables for cancer but we have really tried to make a massive improvement for cancer care,” she said.

“Because we are such a large trust, our improvement has propelled Kent as a whole to have the best cancer performance in the country.”

Chief executive Susan Acott