For the first time ever Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has been rated the best performing trust for emergency care in the country.

The latest weekly data indicates that in the seven days up to Wednesday 16 September 2020, the Trust was seeing and admitting or discharging over 97% of people attending its emergency departments within the four hour national standard.

Meeting the standard means the Trust is providing prompt access to high quality emergency care to patients and that is all thanks to the hard work of MTW staff and its health partners across West Kent.

Whilst it is the first time the Trust has been rated number one in the performance figures which are released each week by NHS Improvement, MTW has in fact been one of the five best performing emergency departments in the south region for the last 18 months.

Meeting the national waiting time target is down to changes and improvements made by the west Kent healthcare systems over the last year to support improved integrated patient care.  These include a number of changes in the emergency departments at Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital to ensure patients are seen in the right place at the right time by the right person the first time, such as:

• Building a new purpose built Acute Assessment Unit at Maidstone Hospital to take patients with urgent medical and surgical conditions who have been referred by their GP or ED to undergo further assessment.
• The provision of Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) – providing speedy access to diagnostic tests, medical and nursing care and discharge home within the same day.
• Changes to the Frailty pathway across West Kent.
• Focusing on improved discharge planning across the system to provide robust flow.
• Opening a new Planned Treatment Unit at Tunbridge Wells Hospital to provide planned ambulatory care.
• Doubling the bed capacity in the Rapid Access Point (RAP) at Maidstone Hospital to provide rapid care to patients who arrive by ambulance.
• Co-working with South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) to ensure patients are handed over from the care of the ambulance crew to medical staff in ED at both hospital sites in a safe and timely manner.
• Creating new roles such as RAP administrator, Flow Coordinator and the Emergency Department Practitioner/ Emergency Nurse Practitioner clinical team.
• Senior decision making at the front door where possible.

John Clulow, Consultant/Lead Advanced Clinical Practitioner, Medicine and Emergency Care, said: “We are absolutely delighted and extremely proud that we have been recognised as the best performing trust for emergency care in the country. It is a remarkable achievement and is down to the sheer hard work and dedication of not only those who work in our Emergency Departments, the wards and the discharge team, but also those working behind the scenes to ensure service changes and improvements happen so we can provide outstanding care to our patients at all times.

“Being treated quickly in any Emergency Department is important for clinical outcomes of patients. All of our staff work hard to ensure patients are seen in the right place at the right time by the right person so they receive the very best care.”