A hospital trust once rated as the worst in London after a spate of maternity deaths and its A&Es being judged “unsafe” was celebrating today as it became the first in the capital to be lifted out of special measures.
Care Quality Commission inspectors said there had been continued improvements at Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS trust since Queen’s and King George hospitals were ranked inadequate in December 2013.
Urgent and emergency care at Queen’s, in Romford, is no longer regarded as inadequate for safety. Other areas, such as dementia care and the work of neonatal and community teams to provide babies with oxygen to live at home, were judged outstanding.
Lynda Hassell, the trust’s divisional nurse for child health, said: “I think it will be an enormous boost to staff who have worked so hard relentlessly to drive through improvements.”
Overall the trust was ranked as “requires improvement” but will now have more freedom to run its affairs.
However, it was warned that it was failing to meet cancer treatment targets, that it had to help ambulance crews turnaround within 15 minutes and that it relied too heavily on agency staff.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt sent the trust a video offering “massive congratulations” on coming out of special measures.
He said: “It’s been a long journey for everyone... It was never the fault of staff when you went into special measures in the first place. You have got a terrific reputation for your caring and compassionate attitude to patients, but a number of things did need to be sorted out.
“You are the first trust in London to come out of special measures, so giving hope to a lot of other places as well that want to go on the journey you have been on. Prime Minister Theresa May and I are really proud of what you have achieved.”
