DORSET County Hospital’s chief executive has told councillors an action plan is being put in place after a report by the Care Quality Commission found improvements were required.

The Echo reported last month how the CQC has found four of the eight services it assessed to be requiring improvement, including maternity and end of life services.

The hospital’s chief executive Patricia Miller gave a presentation to the health scrutiny committee at Dorset County Council to explain some of the independent care regulator’s findings and set out what the hospital had been doing to address them.

She stressed that in all areas, including maternity and end of life care, the actual care provided to patients had been rated as good but many of the concerns raised by the CQC related to whether the services were well-led and issues to do with safety.

Mrs Miller said some of the issues raised related to the level of qualified nurses on wards and a recruitment process had already begun to increase nursing numbers to address this.

In terms of end of life care, she said that the hospital was working with partner organisations to look at having a system in place that would work for everyone.

Mrs Miller said that the hospital had since met with the CQC, which had told her that it felt the right foundations were in place to address the improvements identified. She said that the hospital was in the process of drawing up a formal action plan, which would be put before the CQC at the end of the month.

She added: “We want to take a very transparent and open approach to making the improvements we need to.”

When asked whether there were sufficient funds to deliver the improvements, she said the whole NHS was facing a tough financial situation that was unlikely to change any time soon, but she was confident the hospital had a “robust strategy” in place.

Mrs Miller was also asked about the future of the Kingfisher Ward, which Cllr Paul Kimber said was a concern for many residents. She said discussions were ongoing with Yeovil Hospital concerning maternity and paediatric services and a report setting out possible options was likely to be drawn up in the coming weeks.