West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust ‘requires improvement’ and will remain in special measures, England’s chief hospital inspector has said.

The NHS trust, which runs Watford General Hospital and St Albans Hospital, was rated as 'inadequate' in September 2015. A report published today noted that while progress has been made, further improvement is needed.

Inspectors found that in the outpatients departments, patients’ privacy and dignity were “compromised”, and those in the emergency departments did not receive treatment quickly enough.

The hospitals had no system in place for the safe storage of patients' own drugs and temperatures were too high to store medicine.

The emergency departments were failing to meet a number of targets and “breaches had become acceptable”.

Patients aged between 16 and 18 were often looked after by staff who had not received the correct level of safeguarding children training, and pain relief was not regularly provided to those in the emergency department.

Despite high temperatures in the hospitals, people were not frequently given drinks and patients’ records were not completed quickly enough.

However, the children’s emergency departments were highly praised. In terms of environment, they were deemed outstanding and the medicine storage and management was “exemplary”.

The trust also reduced the mortality rate for hip fractures and the hospitals had lower numbers of death than what would be expected.

CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, professor Mike Richards, said: “Our return to West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust showed that while improvements were still needed, much change had taken place since our last visit and this is reflected in the trust’s new rating.

“There had been a change in leadership at the trust since our last inspection and, good progress had been made, particularly with regard to improving safety.

“However, we also found a number of areas where further work was needed to ensure people received the kind of service they should be able to expect. 

“While we are aware that the trust has already implemented some changes, and this is reassuring to know, I am recommending that the trust remains in special measures.

“Special measures are designed to provide intensive support to struggling trusts and it was clear the trust had gained from the support it has been receiving through the special measures regime."

But the trust's chairman Steve Barnett said he was "delighted" with the result.

He said: “I am delighted with the overall results and even prouder of our staff who continue to drive up the quality of patient care with such great commitment.

“The inspection in September was just one step in our journey to raise our standards higher still. Nearly seven months have passed and if the CQC visited us now, I’m confident they would see many more improvements resulting in an even better set of ratings.”