NHS trust concedes poor progress

Cleanliness is one area covered by the hygiene standards

An NHS trust which was at the centre of a superbug scandal has been singled out for failing to improve standards.

The Healthcare Commission (HCC) said for the year to March 2008, the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust had not declared higher compliance.

Glenn Douglas, chief executive, said: "We've been very hard on ourselves in the way we've assessed the progress."

Sam Banga of the Healthcare Commission said he accepted the trust had been "very rigorous" in its self assessment.

"And let's not forget that for a significant part of last year, they were very short on senior management and also on board members," he added.

We've made significant strides and will continue to do so

Glenn Douglas, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

The health trust was the subject of a damning report by the HCC last year over its errors in handling two outbreaks of the deadly Clostridium difficile superbug at its three hospitals.

At least 90 patients died between 2004 and 2006, caused by a "litany" of errors in infection control, the report said.

For the past three years, every NHS trust in England has had to issue a public declaration on how they have performed against the government's core standards for healthcare.

The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said its declaration was submitted by the trust's new board in April and was "a critical self-assessment" of the organisation's past performance.

'Different picture'

The trust said its report did not cover recent improvements, as to comply with standards everything had to be in place for the whole year from April 2007 to the end of March this year.

But Mr Douglas, who took over as chief executive after the former boss stepped down last October, said he believed the trust had made "significant strides" in improvements.

"Since October we've made significant progress - the staff have really put patients, I believe, at the centre of care within the organisation.

"Everything is not perfect and indeed we're striving to continually improve, but you see a much different picture when you walk around our hospitals now than when you did even six months ago," he said.

Mr Douglas added: "We're not saying we're perfect, anything but that, but we've made significant strides and will continue to do so."

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