Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is a large NHS Trust in the English National Health Service that manages hospitals in Kent, primarily managing Maidstone Hospital and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury. It took over the Crowborough Birthing Centre, formerly run by East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust in November 2015.

The Trust, with East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust is jointly procuring an electronic patient record system in a contract worth £10m - £40m in December 2013.

During 2014 the Trust paid Ian Miller more than £250,000 for five months’ work as an interim finance director. The funds were paid to The Maxentius Partnership, his own consultancy business. The Trust justified the expense by saying “The independent financial expertise was essential in helping the Trust achieve £23.5 million in efficiency savings last year without impacting on patient care.”

It was heavily criticized in 2007 by the Healthcare Commission regarding its handling of a major outbreak of Clostridium difficile in its hospitals from April 2004 to September 2006. In its report, the Commission estimated that about 90 patients "definitely or probably" died as a result of the infection.

The Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, described the 90 patients' deaths as "scandalous".

In a subsequent investigation by the Healthcare Commission the outbreak was connected to the financial reorganisations that the hospital trust was undergoing, such as its private finance initiative. In this regard, Richard James, Professor of Microbiology at Nottingham University noted striking parallels with Stoke Mandeville hospital, which experienced a severe C. difficile outbreak in 2003-5.

...
Wikipedia