A Kent hospitals trust hit hard by Covid-19 during the summer has reported the highest number of deaths in England.

Of the 18 which happened at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust in the past three days, 11 were on Friday.

There were four deaths on Saturday and three yesterday.

All fatalities were reported between 4pm on Saturday and 4pm yesterday and included in NHS England's daily report published today. They reflect patients who have tested positive in the 28 days before their death.

East Kent runs William Harvey, Ashford; QEQM, Margate; and Kent and Canterbury hospitals.

University Hospitals Birmingham was the only other trust to record a death-toll in the double figures, with 14 deaths in three days.

Across England there were 190 deaths reported in the same period, 19 of which were in Kent with one reported by Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, which provides care for people in cottage hospitals and at home.

During the second peak of coronavirus East Kent recorded the most deaths in England for several weeks and at one point accounted for 25% of all fatalities linked to Covid-19 in the country.

The situation saw hospital chiefs accused of "gross mismanagement" as 58% of the trust’s coronavirus patients “probably” or “definitely” caught the virus in hospital - compared to a national average at the time of 22%.

Last month Thanet was consistently in the top three areas in England for infection rate but is now sixth with 621 cases recorded in the past week - a high number of cases several weeks ago would be reflected in a delayed spike in deaths.

Tomorrow William Harvey will become one of the first 50 hospital hubs in the world to administer the record-breaking Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

East Kent has been approached for comment.

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