In July 2013, as a result of the
Keogh Review, the Trust was put into
special measures by
Monitor. In November 2013 it was threatened that Monitor would remove the management because of its failure to address problems. It was put into a buddying arrangement with
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. In December 2013 the Trust was one of 13 hospital trusts named by
Dr Foster Intelligence as having higher than expected mortality indicator scores for the period April 2012 to March 2013 in their Hospital Guide 2013 and in June 2014, the Daily Telegraph highlighted "six figure sums" paid to "dozens of managers" at a time when the "failing hospital" was short of some 120 nurses. The Telegraph quoted the £200,000 package for a 2-day week of chairman Christopher Langley who is entitled to £17,000 flat rate expenses, and banker Robert Griffiths who is paid the annual equivalent of £540,000 to act as "treasurer". The CQC imposed conditions on the running of the
Accident and Emergency Department that all patients arriving at the Department must be assessed by a clinician within 15 minutes. A system must be established to record each patient's arrival, registration and time of first clinical assessment and the Trust is required to report on a weekly basis every time this standard is failed; and provide details about the patients affected, how long each one waited for an initial assessment, the reason why they waited longer than 15 minutes, and if there were consequences. In an effort to improve performance the Trust was given support first by
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and then by
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. In March 2017 the trust came out of special measures after an inspection that showed substantial improvements had been made. In April 2017 32% of patients with suspected cancer had to wait longer than 2 weeks to see a specialist though 93% should see a cancer specialist within that time. ==Performance==