Following her latest visit to St Albans City Hospital, Anne Main MP has said that she was ‘encouraged by the progress’ made by the West Herts Hospitals Trust (WHHT) in St Albans.

Mrs Main visited the hospital only a week after the independent Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the trust as ‘requires improvement’, better than WHHT’s previous inspection report in 2015 which marked the hospitals overall as ‘inadequate’.

‘There seems to be a firm grasp of the problems at the hospital and a clear determination from the staff of how to improve,’ said Anne. ‘Comparing both CQC reports, it is clear that there have been real improvements at the hospital.’

Previously St Albans hospital was rated overall as ‘inadequate’ which has now been upgraded by the CQC to ‘requires improvement’. There is now only one domain of St Albans that is rated ‘inadequate’, with the rest rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘good’.

‘The commitment and compassion by staff on the ground has never been under question. They work extremely hard caring for patients. When I spoke to staff members there was a real understanding and determination to face up to the challenges, and the need to improve further - but I’m encouraged by the progress.’

Photo: Anne with WHHT Chief Executive, Katie Fisher, and chair, Professor Steve Barnett.

Anne’s visited the Gloucester Wing Main Entrance of St Albans City Hospital where WHHT chief executive, Katie Fisher, and chair, Professor Steve Barnett, talked about the improved CQC ratings.  The MP was then taken to the main theatres by Hasan Abusheikha, theatre manager.  Hasan explained the recent improvements to the facilities and demonstrated how the controls are used for the handling of the environment and ventilation systems which are so important and also the general flow of patients through the department keeping a good patient experience. Finally, Anne visited the Day Surgery Ward and discussed patient care with Noemiha Cosma, ward sister.