The Regional Director for the NHS in London, Caroline Clarke, visited King George Hospital (KGH) and heard about all the work that has been behind our recent improvements.

Teams from across the hospital welcomed Caroline including colleagues in our Emergency Department, Frailty Unit, Elective Surgical Hub and more.

Her visit comes after our Trust improved its emergency care performance the most in the country in 2023 and our ratings for urgent and emergency care were also raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at both sites.

In November and December, the Trust was one of the top performing in the country again and was one of a small number of Trusts to improve performance during this time.

The hard work hasn’t stopped there with KGH being recognised by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives for significantly reducing the time it takes for a patient to be admitted into our A&E from an ambulance.

Over the past 12-months, the site has seen the number of hour-plus handovers drop from 38% and well above the national average, to just one percent in the most recent data.

We also saw our average handover time drop from 50-minutes at the start of the year to 23 minutes in the last three months of 2023 – 10 minutes faster than the national figure at that time.

Caroline saw and heard about the fantastic work in our surgical department and our plans to enhance that through the £14m expansion of our Elective Surgical Hub.

The hub, which is due to open in April this year, includes two new theatres and upgraded staff and patient facilities.

Caroline said: “Since my visit to Queens last year, the trust has continued to make real progress with performance being among the best both regionally and nationally.

“Their work in significantly reducing their ambulance handovers and the waits their patients are facing has made a real difference and the energy and passion across the hospital stood out.

“Their impressive new Elective Surgical Hub, which is due to open soon, will help the teams continue to treat patients faster and improve patient care and experience."

Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive, added: “It’s really important for our teams, who have been working so hard, get the credit that they deserve.

“It was great for Caroline to see our new Elective Surgical Hub and A&E at KGH. We also shared our plans to redesign and improve the A&E facility at Queen’s which will transform the department for patients and staff.”