Hospital staff slowed down operations - review

A report looked into Ashford's William Harvey Hospital after concerns were raised by staff

Theatre staff at a Kent hospital would "deliberately slow down during the afternoon", a review has found.

An NHS England report into the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, run by East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, focused on speciality doctor training in the hospital's trauma and orthopaedic surgery department following concerns raised by trust staff.

The report's authors heard agency staff were put on 13-hour night shifts, seven nights in a row, despite never having worked in the NHS or UK before.

Des Holden, the trust’s chief medical officer, acknowledged "there were a number of areas for improvement where we have made changes, including the responsibilities of doctors in training".

The review looked at the quality of clinical learning and the experiences of doctors training in the department.

It heard the trauma theatre team would "resist the number of cases scheduled", resulting in cancelled operations.

The team would also "slow down" to "unnecessarily limit the number of operations completed on a given day".

Mr Holden said the review panel noted doctors in trauma and orthopaedics felt generally well supported by consultants, able to raise concerns and that the elective orthopaedic centre gave good training opportunities.

He added there was "increased team engagement to support improved team working and culture across the sites".

An East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust spokesperson said: “We are focused on ensuring patients waiting for surgery are treated as soon as possible."

They said in November the trust had performed the highest number of operations in a single month since the pandemic.

The spokesperson added: "We are working hard to continue to improve our operating theatre capacity and waiting times for patients.”