downsmail.co.uk Hospital asked for op report
LAWYERS representing patients who died or suffered complica- tions after specialist surgery at Maidstone Hospital have called for a report by the Royal College of Surgeons to be made public. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells
NHS Trust agreed to share the rec- ommendations of the college’s in- vestigation into its practices regarding upper gastrointestinal la- parascopic surgery – thought to be responsible for five deaths and de- layed recoveries at the hospital in
Poor rating
for trust food THE food served up to hospital pa- tients by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has been voted among the worst in the country. The results from 353 patients
who completed the Care Quality Commission survey between Sep- tember and January this year showed it as one of the few areas where the trust failed to improve. Other areas where patients said
there was room for improvement included the information theywere given in A&E, the availability of handwash gels and the number of nurses on duty, which all war- ranted a small dip in patient satis- faction. Pain control, post-operative ad-
vice and the use of understandable language in letters to patients also showed a slight slip in the rating given to the trust by the CQC. However, the trust did improve
in 44 areas on the previous year’s results, covering patient treatment, safety and privacy. The trust’s chief nurse, Avey Bhatia, said: “We are really pleased with the results of the latest inpatient survey, which show that the trust is continuing to build on the good work and im- provementswe made in 2012. “Our staff have worked really
hard over the past year, particularly around admissions and discharge planning and this has been re- flected in the survey’s positive pa- tient feedback.”
2012-13. The trust’s medical direc- tor Paul Sigston said: “We have now spoken with families of pa- tients who died following compli- cations after their upper gastro-intestinal (GI) cancer sur- gery during 2012 and 2013, and have apologised for the failings in care that occurred. We are now making the recommendations of the Royal College of Surgeons re- view publicly available.” But Thomson Snell & Passmore, who is representing the husband of
one patient who bled to death after a laparoscopic operation to remove a tumour from her oesophagus, says releasing only the report’s rec- ommendations only partly answers the questions of affected families. The firm’s Sharon Lam said: “The families deserve to know the full circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths.” The report recommends more
than a dozen improvements to the upper GI cancer surgery at Maid- stone Hospital to improve patient
safety, including changes to the practices of the three upper gastro- intestinal surgeons working there in 2012-2013. They are still em- ployed by the trust, but no longer carry out complex cancer resection surgery. The hospital added that the re-
view did not identify any wider is- sues pre-2012-13 and mortality rates for the servicewere within na- tional levels. GI surgery is tem- porarily taking place at St Thomas Hospital in London.
Mixed bag for patient satisfaction
OUT-of-hours services at Tun- bridgeWells Hospital in Pembury need improvement, says the Care Quality Commission. The inspection found that while standards of care, treatment and management were being met, when it came to standards of staffing and caring for patients safely, more needed to be done. Inspectors studied A&E, surgical assessment unit, medical assess- ment unit, intensive care, theatres and wards.
The report noted patients were pleased with the treatment and care they received and how nurs- ing staff were keen to protect pa- tients’ dignity. The report said: “We heard that patients had been shown how to operate their beds and the call bells on admission to the ward. A rela- tive told us that staff had been ‘very good to Mum’and that when she was in severe pain, staff re- sponded straight away with anal- gesia.”
Blood donor’s gold award
ALONG-TERMlifesaver has been honoured by theNHSafter reach- ing a blood donation milestone. Sue Beeney (64), from Barming, first gave blood as a teenager and re-
cently completed her 50th donation. Women can only donate blood three
times a year and must stop when they are pregnant, making Sue’s achieve- ment all the more impressive. “I’ve been pregnant three times and
had to stopwhenI was diagnosed with diabetes, so I didn’t think I’d ever reach this milestone,” she said. “Apint of blood can save up to three
lives, so to think I might have savedup to 150 people is phenomenal.” Sue, a learning support assistant at
Mid Kent College’s Maidstone cam- pus, received a pin badge, certificate and pen from NHS Blood and Transplant for reaching the gold stan- dard. Her next target is the platinum award for 75 donations. Visit
www.midkent.ac.uk or
www.blood.co.uk for information on how to donate blood.
Free school moves closer
A KCC committee was due to de- cide if the new Jubilee Primary School would open in Gatland House, Fant, as Downs Mail went to press. The Jubilee Church iswaiting for
the go-ahead to convert the build- ing, previously a centre for child and adolescent mental health serv- ices, into a free school. In the first year the school will
have one reception class of about 30 youngsters, before having two- form entry in future years. The school – which will be
32 Maidstone Town May 2014
funded directly by the state, rather than KCC – has been taking appli- cations for its two reception classes and is due to open in September. It will be Maidstone’s second free school – Tiger Primary School opened in Boughton Lane in Sep- tember 2012. KCCwas recently granted plan-
ning permission to replace Gat- land House, which closed in 2012, with 14 homes. However, this is understood to be KCC’s fallback position should the school idea fail.
Tree to be felled
PLANNING consent was granted to fell a protected sycamore tree at 34 St Francis Close, Penenden Heath. The tree, which was considered dangerous by the applicant, must be replaced, ordered Maidstone Council.
Office conversion
THE go-ahead has been given to convert an office at 3 Tonbridge Road, Maidstone into nine flats. Applicant Berry&Berrywas given a prior notification notice
However, while appropriate arrangements were in place to en- sure medicines were available, in- spectors said they were not stored or managed safely. Their report continued: “We
found that staff were supported and that the trust monitored the quality of care that patients re- ceived. “However, we found that there
were not enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff to meet peo- ple’s needs.”
Cricket plans
forge ahead STRONG support was expressed again for a return of Maidstone cricket festival at the annual meet- ing of Kent County Cricket Club. Kent chief executive Jamie Clif-
ford said ground facilities had to be improved first and The Mote Cricket Club was making steady progress. Kent chairman George Kennedy invited life member Dennis Fowle, chairman of The Mote Develop- ment Committee, to update the crowded meeting. Mr Fowle said a residential de-
veloper had made a good bid for four acres of the 24-acre site and a planning application for a new pavilion and other significant im- provements should be submitted to Maidstone Council later this year. The club was disappointed that
two years of detailed negotiations with Maidstone Rugby Club had broken down when rugby voted against relinquishing its lease be- fore expiry in May 2016. Cricket had offered rugby a new
lease, excluding the upper field and now planned construction work should start in summer 2016. The Kent club reported a much- improved financial position and was upbeat about more successes on the playing side with Rob Key returning as captain.
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