DIY SOS Safety failures reveal reality of £28.3m repairs backlog

Temperatures on a maternity ward dropped so low because of faulty air conditioning that babies were at risk of becoming hypothermic, a Kentish Express investigation has found.

The worrying episode at the William Harvey last March is one of a catalogue of failures caused by poor infrastructure at east Kent’s hospitals, which together face a £28.3 million backlog of urgently needed maintenance jobs.

A total of 214 separate incidents which put patients “at harm or risk of harm” were recorded in a single year across the health trust’s estate, which also includes the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, the QEQM in Margate, the Royal Victoria in Folkestone, and Buckland in Dover.

Unbearably high temperatures, leaking ceilings and wasted medicines are among the other hazards listed between April 2017and March 2018.

Persistent problems with temperature control left staff in Ashford feeling “physically sick” on one day in June, while in September a patient fainted because of the sweltering heat. The East Kent Hospitals trust needs to carry out £28.3m worth of urgent repairs if it is to prevent “catastrophic” failures and major disruption to clinical services.

Kent and Canterbury Hospital, which was built in 1937, is sitting on an £8.1m backlog of ‘high-risk’ repairs, while the cost of eradicating the urgent backlog at Ashford’s William Harvey is £9.5m, and £10.6m for Margate’s QEQM.

The cost of clearing the trust’s high-risk backlog stood at £5.5m in 2013/14, representing a four-fold increase of £23m in four years.

A spokesman for East Kent Hospitals Trust said: “Our hospitals operate an ongoing maintenance programme. However, there are a number of areas that we know need redeveloping and investing in for the future.

“One example of this is investment in temperature control. We are putting £600,000 into ensuring every clinical area in our three large hospitals has dedicated air conditioning where possible, or access to cooling units in place by the summer.

“We are trialling a new system at Kent and Canterbury Hospital to monitor both cold and hot temperatures remotely via a sensor fitted in specific areas. This means the temperature can be monitored centrally. We always ensure that the safety of services is maintained at all sites.”

An operating theatre at the QEQM was also among units to record dangerously high temperatures of 29C in October - eight degrees above a normal maximum of 21C.

Elsewhere, the chemotherapy ward at Kent and Canterbury Hospital and William Harvey’s labour ward and maternity day room - where patients frequently spend hours at a time - both

recorded temperatures of up to 33C over the summer.

But in the preceding winter, numerous incidents were also logged showing patients were too cold, on one occasion having to be wrapped in blankets to stay warm.

Endoscopy examinations at the William Harvey also had to be cancelled last March after the ceiling of a theatre room flooded.