Health minister Philip Dunne visited Medway Maritime Hospital as part of a tour of trusts in special measures which have shown signs of improvement.

Mr Dunne’s visit follows that of Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt who came in the summer and spoke in positive terms about the progress Medway NHS Foundation Trust has made this year as part of its recovery plan.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is due make a follow-up inspection at the hospital in November.

Mr Dunne met patients, senior leadership and clinicians as well as visiting the A&E department, where he saw some of the important changes that have been made recently, including the minor injuries section.

Mr Dunne was given an overview of the next phase of the redevelopment programme for the department. Once developed, the department will consist of 24 bays in majors, seven bays in resuscitation and 10 bays in the Clinical Decisions Unit (CDU). The works are scheduled to be completed by late 2017.

A&E staff described the significant progress that has been made in the past few months, which has seen Medway become the region’s best performing trust for ambulance handovers, with around 60 per cent of patients being seen within 15 minutes.

The minister also gained an insight into how the emergency department had achieved a substantial reduction in its nursing vacancy rate in eight months – it stood at 65% per cent last November, compared to the current rate of 24%.

Mr Dunne also visited the women and children’s department – a leading area of the trust that was rated as “good” with areas of “outstanding” practice in the last CQC.

He ended his tour on Lister ward – Medway’s ambulatory care unit for outpatients – which has received an achievement certificate at the Emergency Ambulatory Care National Network for being the most improved in the country.

This is in light of the massive reductions they have delivered in the number of patients staying overnight since the unit opened in March.

Mr Dunne said: “It was good to see the progress that Medway has made this year since publication of its previous CQC report. I was pleased to see for myself how this is benefiting patients.

“Clearly there remain some areas which still need to be addressed, but it is evident that Medway is continuing to move in the right direction, reinforced by a strong and stable leadership, a passionate workforce, enhanced physical infrastructure, as well as centres of excellence in some specialities for patients in Kent.”

Trust chief executive Lesley Dwyer said: “It was particularly encouraging to hear the minister reiterating some of the positive comments that Jeremy Hunt made on his visit back in the summer.

“We now look forward to welcoming the CQC back to Medway in November, so that they can also see the changes and progress we’ve made to help improve the hospital for the people of Kent and Medway.”