A hospital boss says improvements demanded by care inspectors are "on the right track" after launching a long-term plan to increase standards.

The Medway NHS Foundation Trust was rated as requiring improvement when the CQC (Care Quality Commission) visited at the end of 2019 .

Since then of course, Covid-19 has had a huge impact on Medway Maritime Hospital, but leaders along with frontline staff have still been working to produce a strategy amid the pandemic to set out what is needed to progress in the right direction.

Trust chief executive James Devine told the Messenger he is pleased the way the plan has involved clinical teams and executives and many other members of staff throughout the organisation.

Mr Devine said: "We set out a plan but we're also starting to deliver on it. It's easy to write a plan but what the quality commissioner wants to see is that you're delivering on it.

"We've had lots of touch points since then that we're on the right track and delivering the things we said we would.

"The big thing for us is the improvement plan which we launched formally last week with colleagues across the hospital.

"We wanted to engage everybody in the organisation and wanted people to recognise what was in it and their own words.

"The important thing is it's clinically led which means it's not just a bunch of senior people writing a plan.

"In every pillar, we've got doctors, nurses, therapists leading those pieces of work which makes it quite distinct from past plans.

"We took months getting good feedback through focus groups and ordinarily that would be done face to face.

"Covid came along and we had to do a lot through Zoom and surveys so it took longer but it didn't stop people, which was great."

Mr Devine says the plan aims to progress the trust beyond what inspectors outlined and hopes to "keep pushing and exceed the expectation".

He highlighted improvements to infection control which had been pointed out by the CQC and said "good basic nursing standards" were taking place throughout the hospital.

The chief executive said: "What's most pleasing is when we see big reduction in infection rates compared to last year and the year before, good nurse recruitment and in the 22 days up to September 9 no hospital acquired pressure ulcers [bed sores].

"They might seem small things but that's a really good standard of consistent care across the entire hospital with 500-odd beds.

"The more we can start to show those improvements – all about addressing issues the CQC spoke about – particularly elderly care that was referenced, it's a really positive step.

"We have a stable team in executive and board level is positive because it means people aren't just going to leave having written a plan. You want people to see it through."

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