An NHS trust in special measures released an update to its improvement plan this week.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University NHS trust (BHRUT), which runs Queen’s and King George hospitals, in Romford and Goodmayes respectively, published the update on Monday.

The trust was placed into special measures last year in December after criticism of care standards and is required to provide updates to its improvement plan each month.

This comes as Macmillan Cancer charity released a league table of cancer patient experiences, which rated BHRUT amongst the 10 worse in the UK.

The update report listed cutting temporary staff, improved training, new equipment and measures to help improve care.

Temporary staff in emergency departments were cut from 50 in August 2013 to 32 in August 2014, meaning a reduction in spending of around  £200,000.

These staff are more expensive than permanent employees and this was one of the reasons why the trust was placed in special measures.

New equipment is in use such as observation charts which use the National Early Warning Score (NEWS).

Using NEWS means staff can identify patients at risk of becoming dangerously unwell before it becomes life-threating.

Around 3,000 staff were trained last month to recognise and manage sepsis, a life-threatening infection of the blood, as part of a campaign.

Also, the opening hours of the medical receiving unit is now 24 hours a day and is open every day of the week.

The unit is for patients whose conditions are not life-threatening but need further assessment, and the trust said the measures will improve the quality of care.

Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins said: “This is a very exciting time for the organisation.

“I know that we are putting in place a team that can lead the trust through our improvement plan and out of special measures to become local hospitals that people will be proud of.”