by Jess Banham

Hospital bosses have backtracked over plans to give nurses at east Kent hospitals vests with 'do not disturb' on them.

After a pilot at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital (QEQM) with the tabards - worn during drug rounds - bosses decided to buy more.

But after complaints from patient groups about having the 'do not disturb' wording on the vests, they will now not be printed. Instead, the tabards will say 'drugs round in progress'.

Staff at the QEQM in Margate were the first in the South East to trial the uniforms on two of their wards during drug rounds.

Matron Kim Dawson said they were aimed at other members of staff who can sometimes distract nurses while they are handing out important medication.

She added: "If a patient is in pain and they are across the other side of the bay and they call out, that nurse should never ignore that patient.

"This was purely one of the areas to try and improve the outside interruptions of other health care workers."

But the tabards have been criticised by campaign group Patient Concern.

Joyce Robbins, co-director, said: "If it's other staff that are disturbing them then there are disciplinary procedures. People should be taking the steps to make sure that doesn't happen."

The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust that runs the QEQM is now ordering the 500 new tabards at the cost of £5,000 - but without the offending words.

Speaking before the re-think, ward Matron Kim Dawson defended the move: "From my experience as Matron, if I walk around any of my four wards and I see a nurse wearing his or her tabard, I know full well that they are part way through their drug round, don't distract them, go and find somebody else and come back an hour or so later."

The trial has been deemed a success and the uniforms will also be rolled out at other hospitals across the UK including in Middlesex, Colchester, Cardiff, Aberdeen and Derby.