Last year, a significant backlog of patients waiting for appointments and follow-up care in the ENT service provided by Medway NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) at Darent Valley Hospital was identified.
These were patients from the Dartford and Gravesham area whose referrals not been managed in line with NHS waiting time standards. As a result, these patients waited an unacceptably long time for a first, or follow up, appointment across the service that MFT provide at both Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham and Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford.
Click here to read more about the findings: https://www.medway.nhs.uk/news/progress-in-addressing-our-ent-backlog
We are sorry that patients in Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley waited far longer than they should have for their ENT care. Over the past year, significant progress has been made to address the backlog and support affected patients.
We accept the findings of the review, including that we should have more effectively escalated concerns about the backlog within our own organisation. We have been working closely with Medway NHS Foundation Trust throughout the recovery of the service and will continue to work together to implement the recommendations from the review.
We are strengthening the arrangements that support this hosted service, including improvements to governance, escalation processes and our patient administration system to support national waiting time reporting. We are also committed to making sure colleagues in both organisations feel confident to raise concerns and know they will be listened to and acted upon.