FOUR nurses have been suspended while the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust probes an investigation into whether patients were provided with adequate care.

The revelation was made at a Kent County Council overview and scrutiny committee meeting at County Hall, Maidstone, on Friday.

Chief executives from health trusts across Kent were called in to explain what they are doing to prevent Healthcare Acquired Infections, such as Clostridium Difficile and MRSA.

Acting chief nurse, Amy Page, told the meeting four nurses were suspended at the end of September.

This was just a few weeks before the damning Healthcare Commission report was published, revealing 90 people died after contracting C-diff at the trust’s hospitals, between April 2004 and September 2006 and that some nurses had told patients to soil their beds.

The suspensions are not directly related to care given to C-diff patients or to do with infections.

Mrs Page added that two of the suspended nurses worked at Maidstone Hospital and two were at the Kent and Sussex Hospital, in Tunbridge Wells.

Two are fully qualified nurses and two are healthcare assistants.

Interim chief executive Glenn Douglas said: "We are acting strongly to give a hard message to any member of staff who behaves inappropriately.

"Things that may have gone unnoticed before will not do so now."

Staff at the trust also told councillors about their plans to try and make sure infections do not spread as wildly as in 2005 and 2006, when there were two C-diff outbreaks.

Extra temporary buildings will be added to Maidstone Hospital to create more space and allow beds to be spaced further apart, to stop infections spreading.

The buildings can stay in place for up to 20 years and will be installed from April next year.

Mrs Page said: "Since the outbreaks all cleaners who work in clinical areas are now employed directly by the trust and since January we have been reviewing the cases of patients who have died, where C-diff was a factor, to see if we can learn from these."