In 2014 East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) invited the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) to review the paediatric services at the Trust. The RCPCH report was completed in 2015. The report’s key recommendations (and the actions taken) are summarised in the table below:
| Recommendation | Action |
| The Trust should increase clinical presence in the evening and at weekends. | Since 2015 the number of Registrars on both Trust hospital sites has increased. Additional acute paediatric consultants have also been appointed to further increase clinical presence. |
| The Trust should review consultant job plans and honorary contracts for special interest clinics outside the trust to ensure these are a resourceful and patient-centred way of maintaining the specialist services the trust requires. | All job plans have been reviewed and clinical links to tertiary centres have been maintained. |
| The trust should review children’s nurse staffing against the 2013 RCN guidance to enable the trust to attain the minimum core standards and standards for education of nurses working in ambulatory care settings. | Nurse staffing levels have been increased since 2015 and the percentage of staff undertaking mandatory training is compliant. |
| The Emergency Departments at WHH and QEQMH should be adequately staffed with doctors and nurses to provide child centred care throughout the day and night, with staff trained in appropriate competencies. | A named consultant in the Emergency Department is responsible for children’s emergency care at WHH and QEQM. A children’s life support trained member of staff is always on shift. Staffing levels are reviewed annually to ensure compliance. |
| The safeguarding responsibilities of consultants should be reviewed and recognised in job plans. Named doctors need to have protected time with appropriate resources allocated to their role. | A named doctor for safeguarding is in place at both QEQMH and WHH with appropriate resources. |
Child protection peer review sessions should be timetabled for paediatric medical and nursing staff groups, as this can ensure shared learning and exposure to child protection cases. | Regular Child Protection peer review sessions are timetabled with child protection cases discussed and learning shared. |
| Leadership should improve engagement across the service | A different organisational structure is now in place, with a care group focused solely on women’s and child health. |
You can read the full RCPCH review here
