Medway NHS trust 'worst in the country' for patient satisfaction

Medway Maritime Hospital was placed in special measures in 2013

A Kent hospital trust has come bottom in the country in a survey of patient satisfaction.

About 80,000 people who stayed overnight in hospital in July 2016 were asked to fill in a questionnaire about their experience by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Medway NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Medway Maritime Hospital, scored lowest.

The trust said there had been "significant improvement" since then.

Medway was taken out of special measures in March, after nearly four years - longer than any other hospital in England. It was one of 11 hospitals branded "inadequate" after Sir Bruce Keogh's review in 2013.

A CQC inspection in November 2016 found the hospital required improvement overall, but was good in terms of how caring and efficient it is.

Karen Rule, Medway's director of nursing, said: "Since the survey was conducted last year there has been significant improvement across the trust in the quality of the care that we provide and the experience of our patients.

"We recognise that we need to continue to focus on improving our care and the experience of our patients and will be doing so over the coming months."'

Patients were asked about issues including the quality of communication from doctors and nurses, hospital cleanliness, quality of food and waiting times.

The CQC said nationally the results have remained relatively stable since 2006, but "there are small significant improvements" in the quality of communication and confidence in medical staff.

Five trusts were rated worse than average:

• Medway NHS Foundation Trust

• West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust

• Croydon Health Services NHS Trust

• North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust

• The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

Twelve trusts were better than average. The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust topped the table.

Nationally, some groups of people felt they were treated with less dignity and respect than others, including those with mental health conditions, and buddhists.