A scandal-hit hospital has leaky roofs and rust in one of its bathrooms, an investigation has found.

Care Quality Commission inspectors made the discovery at the QEQM in Margate during an unannounced visit last month in the wake of the baby death scandal.

Officials also checked the William Harvey in Ashford, where they discovered women were not being seen within 15 minutes of coming to triage - which at times suffered from staffing issues.

They also found the Harvey did not have enough fetal heart monitoring midwives in post, as they raised concerns around infection control at the site, along with fire safety at the QEQM.

The watchdog has since imposed legal requirements on East Kent Hospitals Trust - which runs the infirmaries - and is ordering it to provide monthly reports setting out what actions it has undertaken to address the concerns.

Carolyn Jenkinson, of the CQC, says the commission had "significant concerns about the ongoing wider risk of harm to patients".

“[The concerns] primarily related to the safety of the labour ward environment, including the availability of regularly serviced equipment, processes for monitoring women and babies whose conditions deteriorate and risks of cross infection due to poor standards of cleanliness," she explained.

“Some of the issues identified are directly connected to the state of repair of the building and the limitations of the physical estate, which we recognise will require resources and greater external support to fully address.

"We have significant concerns about the ongoing wider risk of harm to patients and a need for greater recognition by the trust of the steps that can be taken in the interim to ensure safety and an improved quality of care."

East Kent Hospitals Trust apologised "unreservedly" for the "devastating" failures that saw mothers and babies harmed needlessly.

Following the visit in February, inspectors also said proof must be provided of measures undertaken to fix a number of practical issues at the Margate hospital.

These included "leaking roofs and bowing doors in the midwifery-led unit, and rusty shelf and flooring in the patient bathroom in the triage department" of the building.

"We have used our urgent enforcement powers to impose conditions on the trust’s registration," Ms Jenkinson added.

"These conditions require immediate action to ensure processes are in place to assess, manage and monitor the safety of the environment and equipment in the maternity department at both main hospital sites run by the trust and for regular updates to be provided to CQC on a monthly basis.

"We continue to engage closely with the trust’s leadership team and with NHS England who are offering expert guidance and support to the trust via the recovery support programme.

"We will report on our full inspection findings in due course."

Last week, KentOnline exclusively revealed Canterbury Christ Church University had pulled its student midwives from the William Harvey Hospital over the ongoing safety concerns.

However, the university had elected to allow students to continue to work at the QEQM.

Sarah Shingler, chief nursing and midwifery officer at East Kent Hospitals Trust, says the body "takes the latest concerns and action by the CQC very seriously".

"Our staff continue to work hard to improve our maternity services and we are taking further, urgent steps so that we can deliver the safe, high-quality care our patients and their families expect," she said.

"A new dedicated fetal heart monitoring midwife has been appointed who will work alongside our clinical teams to ensure safe monitoring is consistently completed.

"This is in addition to introducing electronic alerts for staff when fetal monitoring indicates a risk to a baby or that a check is due."

Ms Shingler says the trust has also "increased medical presence to help safely triage women and babies and ensure there are no delays in treatment".

"We have increased the frequency of daily cleaning and have introduced daily checks on cleanliness and emergency equipment," she added.

“We are committed to giving the CQC and mothers, babies and families using our maternity services confidence and the high quality care that they need and deserve.”