Patient safeguarding measures for Colchester Hospital have been announced by Monitor.
The hospital, which had allegedly lied about cancer waiting times data, will be placed in special measures.
A formal investigation by Monitor found that the trust has breached its licence to provide health services after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said cancer care at the trust was inadequate.
The trust has been ordered to fix the patient safety, and governance issues highlighted in the CQC report last week.
Patient safeguarding measures for Colchester Hospital have been announced by Monitor.
The hospital, which had allegedly lied about cancer waiting times data, will be placed in special measures.
A formal investigation by Monitor found that the trust has breached its licence to provide health services after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said cancer care at the trust was inadequate.
The trust has been ordered to fix the patient safety, and governance issues highlighted in the CQC report last week.
An Improvement Director will be appointed by Monitor to ensure the trust turns itself around.
A high performing foundation trust will be asked by the regulator to offer support and expertise in delivering improvements to the cancer pathway
The trust will publish and regularly update an action plan to enable the public to monitor the progress it makes and hold it to account
The regulator has also imposed an additional licence condition to make sure the trust has the necessary capability in place to run the trust. If the leadership of the trust fails to act appropriately, this condition allows Monitor to take further action.
Adam Cayley, regional director for Monitor said: "The trust has been given an explicit set of actions to improve the service it offers patients. We will be monitoring progress closely and we will not hesitate to take further regulatory action if required.
"The leadership of the trust will be reviewed as part of our scrutiny of the trust’s governance arrangements and, if necessary, further regulatory action will be taken."
Chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards said: "We welcome Monitor's decision to accept my recommendation to place Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust in special measures. I am pleased that information from CQC's inspection has resulted in the action that is being taken by Monitor to improve services at the trust. CQC will continue to monitor the trust in line with its regulatory responsibilities and this will include further inspections."
Last week The Commissioning Review reported that the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) was “shocked” by the revelations about Colchester Hospital.
North East Essex CCG has been seeking “urgent assurance” from the hospital on patient safety, including a detailed review of each cancer treatment pathway, weekly monitoring and a jointly commissioned report from the NHS Cancer Intensive Support team.
