The work of staff at ‘one of the top performing trusts in the country’ was praised by Rachel Reeves MP, the Chancellor of the Exchequer during a visit to Maidstone Hospital on Tuesday (10 December).

Ms Reeves was joined on her visit by Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP and heard about the innovative ways of working at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) which enable the Trust to deliver some of the fastest access to patient care in the country.

She visited the Kent and Medway Orthopaedic Centre, a new theatre complex at Maidstone Hospital which has three state-of-the-art operating theatres and is increasing surgical capacity across Kent and Medway, with up to 2,000 more operations each year helping Kent and Medway patients who need planned surgery on bones, joints and muscles.

Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP in the Kent and Medway Orthopaedic Centre with CEO, Miles Scott, Clinical Director for Trauma and Orthopaedics, Mr Lee David and Head of Nursing for Trauma and Orthopaedics, Tina Cooper.

Ms Reeves’ visit also included the Care Coordination Centre which uses real time data to constantly monitor the Trust’s 700 beds to improve the movement of patients through its hospitals.

This has significantly reduced the amount of time a bed is empty, the time a patient spends in the Trust’s emergency departments before they are moved to a bed and ensures patients arriving by ambulance are quickly moved into the EDs.

During the visit, Ms Reeves took part in a question and answer session with staff from across MTW discussing how the experiences of front line teams would inform the Government’s Spending Review, and what the review means for public sector services.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones MP, said: “It was a privilege for the Chancellor and I to visit Maidstone Hospital and meet its inspiring NHS staff whose data system is significantly reducing waiting times and moving A&E patients into beds quicker.

“As we launch the Spending Review – scrutinising every pound the Government spends – we want to learn from frontline staff about the challenges they face so we can throw our weight behind the best solutions.”

Miles Scott, the Trust’s Chief Executive, said: “Our approach at MTW is not just more of the same, but new ways of working to meet an increase in demand. The Kent and Medway Orthopaedic Centre expands our surgical capacity, and this new facility is making a huge difference for patients across the region who are waiting for surgery, helping them access expert care and life-changing operations more quickly.”

The Trust treats around 900,000 patients each year, including around 200,000 attendances through the Trust’s emergency departments at Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

Against a backdrop of increasing demand MTW continues to be one of the best performing trusts in the country. It was the first trust in England to have no long waiting patients (those waiting more than 52 weeks for planned surgery), is regularly in the top five in the country for emergency department performance and has delivered the national cancer standard each month for five years.

Photos from the visit