A recent inspection found that the A&E department of a Kent hospital is ‘still unsafe’. The Care Quality Commission carried out an inspection on 26 August and found that the hospital was unable to maintain safe standards of care.  An earlier inspection of the hospital, in July 2013, put the hospital under ‘special measures’ after it was found to be in a “crisis situation”. There was severe overcrowding, blood-stained walls, and potentially life-threatening unsafe practices.

The most recent inspection found that the care of patients “remained flawed”.  Inspectors highlighted one patient who had been at the A&E department at the hospital in Gillingham for over twelve hours. She had been assigned to a ward bed, but was later told that it was no longer available.  A second patient had been left on a trolley for nine hours, despite hospital policy stating that all patients should be transferred to a bed within six hours of arrival.

“The pace of change remained slow”

Where the hospital said it had made numerous changes since the inspection, the CQC in its latest report stated: “The pace of change remained slow; the ability to introduce change was hindered by the continued lack of leadership within the department.”

The trust said that changes had since been made, including the employment of two new emergency care consultants, a new head of nursing, and three new emergency care matrons.  The trust’s chief executive, Dr Phillip Barnes, said that the trust is “fully committed to providing the high quality of care [that] patients deserve.”

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