Medway Maritime Hospital is showing signs of improvement, nearly three years after it was placed in special measures.

After a two-day inspection last month, watchdog the Care Quality Commission said the Gillingham hospital is making progress.

Specifically, it said the hospital was safer for patients and leadership, under chief executive Lesley Dwyer, had improved

Scroll down for audio

It also said staff engagement among senior and middle managers was better although low staffing levels affect the morale of frontline staff.

The latest findings come after chief inspector of hospitals Sir Mike Richards told health secretary Jeremy Hunt in February that he had little confidence in Medway Maritime making improvements on its own and gave it a three-month deadline to make changes.

But Sir Mike has today written to Mr Hunt, stating that the trust which runs the hospital now has a clear plan of action when it comes to patient safety.

“As a result of this plan we have seen a significant increase in training and use of patient early warning scores, especially in the emergency department, and the increased use of patient safety rounds,” he said.

He said although the emergency department still saw periods of congestion, the inspectors observed significantly fewer patients being cared for in the corridors.

However, Sir Mike said maintaining safe staffing levels for nurses remains a problem and a number of wards had insufficient staff to provide safe care.

“Although the trust attempts to mitigate staff shortages by the use of agency and bank staff, we remain concerned about the sustainability of these measures and the impact on patients. Staffing levels within the emergency department are however much improved,” he added.

He has recommended that special measures are maintained for a further six months with the continued support of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Ms Dwyer, who took over as chief executive of the trust in May last year, said: “Although we will remain in special measures, I am very pleased that the CQC has recognised that we have made significant improvements over the last few months.

"This is a tribute to the hard work our staff have put in to understand what wasn’t working, and make changes to benefit our patients.

"Patients are now seen quicker when they arrive at the Emergency Department, see fewer different doctors, and are discharged to the comfort of their own homes quicker" - Lesley Dwyer

“Since the CQC were here last summer, we have made the hospital safer, cleaner and more responsive to the needs of patients.

"Patients are now seen quicker when they arrive at the Emergency Department, see fewer different doctors, and are discharged to the comfort of their own homes quicker.

“But we recognise that there is considerably more to do. We are acutely conscious that we need to address staffing levels and recruit more permanent colleagues to reduce our dependency on agency staff.

“Having tackled many of the safety and quality issues in the Trust, we also need to turn our attention to making the trust as efficient as possible.

"So we will continue to work tirelessly over the next few months to make improvements and ensure we provide the service that the people of Kent and Medway deserve.”