Barking MP Margaret Hodge has said the health watchdog’s findings following an investigation into the local hospital trust as “a damning indictment of the safety and quality of care at Queens Hospital”.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report published today found “serious failings”, with 73 separate recommendations being made.

Responding to the report, Mrs Hodge said

“This report is a damning indictment of the safety and quality of care at Queens Hospital.

“It is shocking but not surprising to those of us who have been campaigning for better hospital services for years.

“In a modern NHS it is scandalous that maternity services are so poor that the lives of mothers and babies are at risk from unsafe care.

“The A&E cannot cope and without urgent action we will see a repeat of last winter when the service all but collapsed.

“It is outrageous that radiological tests identifying people as potentially having serious health conditions like cancer are not always reported and acted on.

“And it is completely unacceptable that some patients are waiting hours for pain relief, waiting hours for beds after surgery, and in some cases suffering abuse at the hands of staff. Staff are not even getting patients’ names and dates of births right in their records.

“These are the same issues we have seen time and time again. I won’t be fobbed off by the Trust telling me they’ve recruited more staff. This report shows they do not have the right staff in the right places – and that they are planning to cut staff in order to cut costs.

“This has gone on far too long. The Department of Health and NHS London must stop simply blaming hospital management and take responsibility.

“Any thought of closing the A&E and maternity services at King George hospital is sheer madness. At a time when Queens cannot cope with existing pressures it would be devastating for the health care my constituents receive.

“Everybody must now focus all their energies on turning around these failing services and ensuring patients receive the basic standards of care they have a right to expect.”