Patient poll criticises NHS Trust

The trust is responsible for three hospitals in Kent

An NHS trust in Kent is one of the worst in England, according to a survey of overnight hospital patients.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust was ranked 159th out of 165 in the Healthcare Commission's annual poll.

Shortly before the survey was carried out, a Healthcare Commission report criticised the trust over a C.diff outbreak in which 90 people died.

A trust spokeswoman said the report, published in October 2007, may have affected the poll results.

The trust runs three main hospitals, Maidstone, Pembury, and Kent and Sussex, which is in Tunbridge Wells.

"The whole trust was slightly shell-shocked after the report was issued and obviously it's got to have some bearing on what the patients were thinking at that time," said Dr Sarah Mumford, director of infection prevention.

"We've certainly improved since that time. I think if the survey was repeated now we would see a very different picture," she added.

'Poor handling'

During the poll, 76,000 patients from 165 trusts were questioned about waiting times, cleanliness, and hospital food.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust ranked in the bottom five trusts in four areas, with patients criticising the number of nurses on duty, admission waiting times, lack of hand washing by doctors and the number of mixed sex wards.

The Healthcare Commission report said the trust's "poor handling" of Clostridium Difficile had resulted in 90 deaths.

In December 2007, commission inspectors said the trust had made "improvements".

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