Bosses at a scandal-hit hospital trust have apologised for "devastating" failings that saw mothers and babies harmed needlessly.

East Kent Hospitals Trust chiefs have written an open letter to the public following the publishing of the Kirkup report last year.

The trust's chairman Niall Dickson and chief executive Tracey Fletcher said that the board "apologised unreservedly" after 45 babies were found to have died in preventable circumstances.

"The report highlighted care that repeatedly lacked kindness and compassion, both while families were in our care and afterwards, when families were coping with injuries and deaths," they added.

"It also found at least eight The Trust Board has apologised unreservedly for the pain and devastating loss endured by the families and for the failures of the Board to effectively act.

"These families came to us expecting that we would care for them safely and compassionately, but we failed to do that. We accept all that the report says, and we are determined to use the lessons within it to put things right.

"We also want to apologise to those within our communities. We are aware of the anxiety that these failings will have caused among those who rely on our services. We are determined to make the necessary improvements and to make sure that in future we listen to patients, their families and staff when they raise concerns.

"We are aware that saying sorry is not enough and that what is needed is meaningful action and real change. We are also clear that there is learning from the lessons in the report for every area of our organisation; these are not just confined to maternity.opportunities where the Trust Board and other senior managers could and should have acted to tackle these problems effectively. This was simply not good enough."

They explained that the trust was working on a "fundamental transformation of the way we work," including focussing on openness and honesty, as well as compassion in the workplace.

"In the last few years, we have worked hard to improve our services and have invested to increase the numbers of midwives and doctors, in staff training, and in listening to and acting on feedback from the people who receive our care," they added.

"However, we know that we must do much more.

"Right now, we are working on improving the way our teams work together so we can provide better, safer care; providing compassionate care across all our services; and making sure learning from our failings and mistakes is shared with all staff, so we can change the way we work so they do not happen again.

"While we have made some progress, there have been previous efforts to tackle some of these problems and they have not been successful. We are determined to make sure that does not happen again."

"We know the enormous pressures our hospitals are under, and we accept that changing how a large organisation operates will take time, but it is possible.

"We know too that if we are to succeed, we must learn from and involve patients and their families, and work in partnership with them to develop and deliver our response to the report."