News | Health
downsmail.co.uk KIMS ‘misleading patients’
MAIDSTONE’s newest hospital – the Kent Institute of Medicine and Surgery (KIMS) at Bearsted – has been given a rap on the knuckles for misleading patients on itswebsite. It has also been accused of put-
ting patients’ safety at risk and boasting of services it is not able to provide. KIMS’ chief executive Simon
James was brought in at the end of last year to get the £85m state of the art hospital back on track, follow- ing the departure of hospital direc- tor Jayne Cassidy. When inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited in September, they found the hos- pital had a “lack of robust gover- nance” andwas not “well led”. A need for improvement in sur-
gery, outpatients, medical care and services for children and young people led to inspectors finding the hospital in overall need of im- provement, according to a report. The CQC found the hospital’s
website guilty of offering a huge range of services and treatments that it could not safely provide. “The site talks about a dedicated
cancer care suite and chemother- apy service for people diagnosed
April 2014 and March 2015. More than a quarter (26%) of all patients were NHS funded. A statement from the hospital’s
KIMS (left) and chief executive Simon James
with cancer. There is a single haematologist with practising priv- ileges. The hospital is not resourced to provide chemotherapy safely,” says the report. KIMS boasts an impressive list of quality consultants, but most do not work regularly at the hospital. Although the consultants had an
initial look around the premises, theywere unfamiliar with the poli- cies and practices and would not necessarily be familiar with the equipment, which could pose a risk to patient safety, said the CQC.
On one occasion, a patient suf-
fered a burn as a result of a surgeon being unfamiliar with equipment. It concluded that the underuse of
the hospital posed significant risks to patients, but admitted: “We saw some very good care being pro- vided by staff and people were generally happy with the treatment they were receiving.” It was marked good for being ef-
fective, caring and responsive. The hospital admitted 771 inpa-
tients, 1,812 day patients and car- ried out 2,486 operations between
chief executive and chief nurse, Jackie Groom, said: “Requires im- provement as an overall rating is a realistic and fair judgement, given the relative immaturity of our sys- tems and processes. “We are pleased the hospital has
been rated good across several of the key domains, and recognise this inspection and report has provided us with further expert guidance to support our ongoing improvement plans as the business continues to grow. “Patient safety is our number one priority, and we work with out- standing and highly experienced consultants, physicians and clinical staff. “We are passionate about deliv-
ering high-quality care, andwe are naturally disappointed with some of the regulator’s findings and took immediate steps to address these.”
Priorities set out for bale against cancer
Call for hospice changes
AHEALTHwatchdog has praised The Heart of Kent Hospice for its care but criticised its practices in other areas. The Care Quality Commission re-
port highlights four out of five areas, including leadership, safety record and recruitment practices at the Aylesford hospice, which it says all re- quire improvement. The hospice said it was disap-
pointed with the findings. It says be- fore the inspection both the charity and the CQC were aware and sup- portive of the improvements needed and being introduced, but that they would need time to embed. The hospice says it is proud of its excellent reputation, adding: “We take our responsibilities very seriously and we are confident that our ongo- ing improvement plan, which has been approved by the board of trustees, will resolve the issues.” The CQC report noted that while
there were sufficient trained staff on duty, the systemformonitoring their trainingwas not effective. Therewas concern about a lack of recruitment procedures, as well as those for stor- ing and administering medicines and checking staff competency.
38 Maidstone East June 2016 Ahospice spokesman said the hos-
pice was “delighted to have been given an outstanding rating for the level of caring provided, with the in- spector commenting ‘staff go above and beyond the call of duty; they are so dedicated and passionate about what they do and provide outstand- ing end-of-life care during which peo- ple experience a comfortable, dignified and pain-free death’. “The CQC reported that staff were
attentive and kind, demonstrating dignity and respect at all times. The CQC spoke to patients, relatives, visi- tors and healthcare professionals who were all ‘overwhelmingly posi- tive’ about the hospice’s service. “Our outstanding rating for provid-
ing a caring service demonstrates the commitment of Heart of Kent Hos- pice staff and volunteers to providing the very best care for our patients and their families.” The spokesman added that the
work to adapt its procedures to meet a raft of changes in regulations, such as employment, would continue, as would the development of a process to evidence these changes suffi- ciently to the CQC.
AMAJORcampaign to improve the local battle against cancer has been approved by the GP-led budget- holding NHS West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group. One in two people is likely to face cancer. If the NHS reached stan- dards achieved in Europe, 30,000 people a year in the UK would sur- vive for at least 10 years of more, equating to 250 inWest Kent. After a period of deteriorating
waiting time standards locally, the group is supporting the aim to achieve “world class cancer out- comes” with six priorities over the next four years. One emphasis will be on early di- agnosis. Other priorities include pre- vention through smoking cessation and obesity reduction; and im- proved patient experiences through two-week referrals, development of a cancer patient partnership group and a cancer information centre. The group also plans to modernise cancer services with recovery plans,
AMBULANCE waiting times in West Kent continue to deteriorate. South East CoastAmbulance Serv-
ice (SECAMB) says it will not meet the75%year-end targets for two key priorities due to a heavy workload and hospital handover delays.
Information centre
MACMILLAN Cancer Support and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust are negotiating about building and resourcing a cancer information centre at Maidstone Hospital by 2018/19.
radiotherapy review, changes in drugs funding and increased re- search. There will be patient recovery packages with a pathway of care to assist self-management. The group says it will know if it is successful by 2020 if it increases di- agnosis at stage 1 or 2 from 50% to 62%; if it reduces smoking preva- lence from 17% to 13%; if 95% of pa- tients referred by a GP for testing have their results within fourweeks; 57% of patients survive 10 years or more; one-year survival is75%for all patients; and mandated waiting times are consistently met.
Ambulance targets missed
SECAMB also operates the 111 telephone service and reports serv- ice deterioration and failure to meet the majority of its targets in March, due to high volume of calls, staffing issues and patients frustrated by fail- ures in the GP out-of-hours service.
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