Government inspectors have found that surgical care at Whipps Cross Hospital is getting better - however it has still been classed as “requiring improvement.”

Inspectors from health watchdog The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection of surgical care in April after it was previously rated as “inadequate.”

Improvements they found included in infection control and cleanliness in theatres, and that 90 per cent of patients were either extremely satisfied or satisfied with their pain management.

Alan Gurney, managing director at Whipps Cross Hospital, said the improved rating was “a wonderful achievement” and down to the hard work of staff.

He said: “There is more work to be done and I am sorry for the instances where we have let people down.

“Having already made great strides in a short space of time we are determined to maintain this pace of change to consistently provide people with the safe surgical care we all aspire to.”

Other findings of the CQC inspectors included that staff treated patients with compassion and demonstrated a genuinely kind and caring attitude, even when busy and under pressure.

They also found that the hospital had worked hard to respond to previous concerns, including having checked every ward to make sure that medicines are up to date, and taken immediate action to fix unsecure medicine storage facilities.

In addition, the hospital has refurbished a surgical ward to make it a friendly and positive experience for people with dementia, and made it easier to recruit new staff by improving the application process for candidates. It has also bolstered staffing in the pharmacy team to better support wards and has invested £2 million to redevelop two operating theatres by October 2018.

The improvement means that no services are any longer rated ‘Inadequate’ overall across the whole of Whipps Cross Hospital, or indeed any of the five hospitals run by Barts Health NHS Trust.