Serious failures in patient safety have led to one of the largest trusts in England to be put into special measures.
Health sector regulator Monitor found that East Kent Hospitals foundation trust (FT) had safety issues, leadership issues and a “culture of bullying”.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had rated the FT inadequate in August.
Serious failures in patient safety have led to one of the largest trusts in England to be put into special measures.
Health sector regulator Monitor found that East Kent Hospitals foundation trust (FT) had safety issues, leadership issues and a “culture of bullying”.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had rated the FT inadequate in August.
Monitor found staff shortages in A&E, children’s care and overnight. In a number of areas around the trust, buildings and equipment were “poorly maintained”.
Patients visiting the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, which is run by the trust, said they had no confidence in the management.
Paul Streat, regional director at Monitor said: “The trust needs to urgently improve the safety of care for patients, and strengthen its management to better support frontline staff.
“By putting the trust into special measures we can ensure they turn things around quickly. Senior leaders need to listen to and work with all staff to understand and tackle problems on their wards.”
The trust's chief executive, Stuart Bain, said: "We want to work with our regulator Monitor, our staff and our health partners to make improvements to the services we provide to the people of east Kent.
"In addition we identified the need to improve our appointment system some time ago and have just completed a public consultation on our outpatient services that will allow us to make improvements to the services we offer patients.
"New appointment booking systems, more flexible appointments, and an investment of £28m in improved facilities including a new hospital in Dover will start to address these issues.”
