Health secretary Jeremy Hunt praised the "tremendous commitment and determination" of staff at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Mr Hunt was speaking after spending the morning at the troubled Gillingham hospital, which remains in special measures, on what his department called a "frontline visit".

He met with board members and worked with staff on the wards - helping give lunch to patients, following nurses as they did observations and even washing beds and commodes.

Mt Hunt said there are some "very severe" problems at the hospital but said staff showed "tremendous commitment and determination" to "do what it takes to turn things around".

He added: "We have introduced the in the wake of what happened at Mid-Stafforshire, one of the toughest, in fact the toughest inspection regime for hospitals anywhere in the world, and that means the public can be reassured we are calling a spade a spade, there is no hiding away from problems which is what happened at Mid-Staffs.

"And that makes it very very tough. But there is so much commitment here; the management are committed and staff are committed and I’m confident that we will get through this because of that passion and commitment from staff."

Earlier this year, Mr Hunt exposed Medway's lack of progress in the House of Commons.

He told MPs that Prof Sir Mike Richards, England's chief inspector of hospitals, still had "strong concerns" about the trust a year after it was put into special measures.

He then wrote a letter to the Medway Messenger in July, saying he hoped to visit the hospital "soon", after receiving an invitation from Medway MPs. He said he was "sure further progress will have been made" when he did.

He wrote: "I know your readers will be aware that the hospital has had problems for some time. Care isn't consistently up to standard, and higher than average mortality rates date back to 2005.

"The independent chief inspector of hospitals continues to have concerns, but it's important that we all recognise the progress that has been made over the past year.

"Over a hundred more nurses are now employed than in July 2013, and it's clear that the hospital’s staff are totally committed to turning things round."

Following his visit today, he said the NHS was under increasing pressure.

"We have a lot of pressure. We have a million more people going into A&E each year than we did four years ago and we have an aging population.

"One of the jobs of the government is to do everything we can to support the NHS thorough a period in which that pressure if only going to increase.

Medway Maritime was placed in special measures in July 2013. Since then it has been closely monitored by the heath watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC).

In April, inspectors found the hospital had not made enough improvements and ruled it must stay in special measures indefinitely.

The CQC made an unannounced inspection of A&E at the end of July and raised continuing concerns.

Philip Barnes was appointed as acting chief executive in June and Shena Winning took over as chairman of the trust this month.

Dr Barnes said: “It was an honour to welcome Jeremy Hunt to Medway Maritime Hospital today and staff welcomed the opportunity to share their experiences of working at Medway Maritime Hospital and providing frontline care and treatment to the thousands of patients who need our services every day."

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