Health Secretary commends patient safety at Medway Hospital

The Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, commended patient safety on his visit to Medway Maritime Hospital recently.

Hunt and Mike Durkin, former national director of patient safety at NHS Improvement, met staff from across the organisation and heard about the progress Medway NHS Foundation Trust has made in improving patient safety.

There have been a range of changes at the trust to ensure patients receive safe and compassionate treatment, with a better safety culture throughout the hospital, as well as a strong focus on recognising and responding quickly to patients whose conditions deteriorates.

These improvements have led to a significantly reduced morality rate, putting the trust below the national average.

Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, said: “The staff at Medway should be incredibly proud of the extraordinary turnaround at the Trust - in particular the way they have embedded patient safety at the heart of their culture.

“The trust's focus on engaging staff in its vision for patient safety is exemplary, and can ensure they become a trailblazer in helping to achieve my ambition of making the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world.”

Diana Hamilton-Fairley, medical director, said: “I am very proud of all the work that our staff have done to ensure we provide care that is safe for our patients. We have developed an open and transparent culture throughout the organisation, where we encourage everyone to talk about patient safety - reporting incidents when they occur and ensuring that we can all learn from them. I’m delighted to say that our patients are seeing the benefits of this.”

Lesley Dwyer, chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We were absolutely delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt and Dr Mike Durkin to Medway.

“I believe they got a real sense of our commitment to patient safety at Medway; it is so important that as staff we all work together to provide the safest possible care for our patients. It is something we must get right, and I’m confident we are seeing the evidence that we are. We will always do the best by our patients – making the right decision with them about their care and ensuring they receive timely and compassionate treatment.

“We have great staff at Medway and together we are ready and willing to be trail-blazers for patient safety for the rest of the country.”