Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) has been awarded JAG accreditation for its endoscopy services, and received high praise from the Joint Advisory Group (JAG), following its review in July 2020.

MTW operates endoscopy services at both Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells hospitals, with a team of 60 staff, and last year performed 23,103 endoscopy procedures. The team comprises a group of clinical specialists, doctors and nurses, who specialise in gastroenterology, surgery and nurse-led endoscopy.

In the latest accreditation review, MTW’s endoscopy team was particularly commended for its positive approach, investment in delivering improvements to the endoscopy service and commitment to providing a high quality service for patients.

Dr Hemant Sharma, Clinical Lead, at MTW said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this accreditation for our endoscopy services.

“The team works tirelessly to ensure we deliver the very highest standards of safe and effective care for our patients so it is fantastic to be recognised with this quality standard. It’s a huge achievement for the team.”

JAG accreditation is awarded to high-quality gastrointestinal endoscopy services and promotes improvement by highlighting areas of best practice, areas for change and encouraging the continued development of the clinical service.  The scheme is regarded as one of the most innovative and effective in the healthcare sector and has been used as a model for other similar schemes in the UK and overseas. It has four assessment areas: clinical quality, patient experience, workforce and training. Accredited services are required to submit evidence annually to demonstrate that they are continuing to meet the standards and have a five-yearly on-site assessment.