The Care Quality Commission published its report into last autumn’s re-inspection of the Trust’s three main hospital sites on 21 December and found widespread improvements to the quality of care patients receive.
Sir Mike Richards, England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, recommended that the Trust should be taken out of quality special measures and this was agreed today by the Trust’s regulator NHS Improvement (NHSI).
Matthew Kershaw, Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals, said:
“I am delighted that the hard work and dedication of our staff, who have driven these improvements for patients over the last two years, has been recognised. We have made further improvements since the inspection and have plans to continue to reduce delays for patients, recruit staff and make further progress to improve services such as maternity and end of life care.
“Hand in hand with these quality improvements, we have significantly reduced our financial deficit from £35m in 2015/16 to a forecast £24m deficit this year. We have reduced agency spend by 11%, improved our financial position every quarter since April 2015 and are on track to deliver a much reduced deficit this year. We have been working closely with NHSI and will continue to do so as we are now part of its financial special measures programme.”
