BASILDON Hospital has been removed from special measures.

Health regulator Monitor said the hospital had improved its services for patients and rated it "good".

It came after the chief inspector for hospitals recommended it was removed following a full inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

However, the hospital has been told it can improve some acute services further.

The trust was put into special measures by Monitor in July 2013 following the Keogh Review into hospitals with higher than average mortality rates.

Since entering special measures the trust has made a number of improvements, including recruiting more than 200 additional clinical staff such as nurses, nursing support staff and consultants.

In addition, the number of patients who would recommend the trust to their friends and family has risen by over ten per cent.

Following the recommendation, Monitor said the trust no longer needs a dedicated improvement director to help turn around its performance, and is not required to publish any further progress on its recovery plan on the NHS Choices website.

However, the trust will continue to work with the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, on a voluntary basis because it has been working so well.

The trust is still formally in breach of its licence to provide NHS funded services for failing to meet A&E and waiting times targets and associated governance issues. Monitor will separately review the trust’s compliance with its licence conditions and work with it to identify if any further support is needed to ensure that patients continue to see lasting improvement.

Adam Cayley, regional director for Monitor, who was also the Improvement Director for the trust during the special measures process, said: “Patients are benefiting from the great improvement at the trust. The decision we’ve taken today is a reflection of the hard work that staff at the trust, with Monitor’s support, have put in to making the hospital a better place for local people.

“But this isn’t the end of the story. We want to make sure that the trust keeps on improving and that these improvements last.”

 

See tomorrow's Echo for the full story.