Two of Kent's biggest hospitals have been told their emergency departments still require improvement after their latest inspections.

Both the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and Margate's Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) were given the rating by the CQC following their inspection in March.

However, inspectors said that there were improvements in some areas of the hospitals, both of which are run by the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, since their last inspection in 2018.

Both hospitals were rated 'Good' for being caring, while QEQM also achieved that rating for being well led.

CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Dr Nigel Acheson, said that leadership was one of "a number of improvements" at the Margate hospital.

He said: "Staff at QEQM understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work.

"They felt respected and valued and were focused on the needs of patients receiving care and were committed to improving services continually.

"The service was engaging well with patients and the community to plan and manage services."

The inspection, which was carried out just before routine ones were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, also found that mental health support in both services had improved, as had paediatric emergency department services.

However, both hospitals are still rated as 'Requires Improvement' for being safe, effective and responsive, while the William Harvey also requires improvement for leadership.

Dr Acheson said: "At William Harvey Hospital our main concerns surrounded staffing and safety in the department.

"Despite staff treating patients with compassion we found that there were not always enough qualified staff on duty, this had an impact on the quality and safety of care of patients within in the department.

"We fully accept that we still have a lot of work to do"

"People could not always access the service when they needed it and did sometimes have to wait too long for treatment. Staff did not always provide patients with pain relief when they needed it.”

The East Kent Hospitals trust says that it has taken immediate action to address issues raised in the report, including creating more space in the department, continuing to recruit more nurses, and ensuring risk assessments are consistently carried out.

East Kent Hospitals chief executive Susan Acott said: “Staff in the emergency department have worked hard to improve, particularly on the issues raised by the CQC in its 2018 inspection around the privacy and dignity of patients in the department, and compassion.

“We fully accept that we still have a lot of work to do to achieve the consistently high standards we want for all our patients in this very complex service.

“We recognise the improvements the CQC requires us to make, and we will continue to implement changes to the emergency department to enable staff to provide the highest standards of care.”

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