Emergency departments at two East Kent hospitals have improved, report finds

The emergency departments at two hospitals run by East Kent Hospitals Trust have improved, according to the Care Quality Commission.

The William Harvey Hospital in Ashford has seen its rating of 'safe' rise from Inadequate to Requires Improvement.

Whilst inspectors said that there was no real areas of concern at the QEQM Hospital in Margate.

The trust says it is pleased its hard work has been recognised and it's taking action on the areas for further improvement.

The Chief Executive of the trust, Susan Acott, says they are taking action on further improving the sites, including renovating the mental health room at William Harvey Hospital.

"Staff have worked hard to give patients the best possible urgent and emergency care during the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic and I am pleased their hard work has been recognised in the CQC's report." 

The inspections were carried out in early March to assess whether the urgent and emergency care services were experiencing pressure due to winter demands, or issues with patient flow as a result of COVID-19.

Inspectors previously visited the emergency departments at both hospitals in March 2020 as part of a comprehensive inspection.

At the time, both emergency departments were rated requires improvement overall. William Harvey Hospital was also rated inadequate in the safe domain and conditions were imposed to keep people safe.

These were removed on 29 March 2021, as the trust had made a number of improvements.

Catherine Campbell, CQC's head of hospital inspection, said: "I am pleased to report that there were improvements to the overall performance of the trust's emergency departments. While we found no real areas of concern at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, we told East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust that it should ensure it has the right number of consultants in each department at the hospital and it should improve its four-hour performance targets.

"At William Harvey Hospital, we told the trust it must ensure that the emergency department has suitable facilities in place to care for patients with mental health problems. It must also ensure that all patients are monitored for deterioration, including those waiting for triage. In addition, it should consider reviewing the layout and flow of patients within the department and improve accessibility of patient records."