A health watchdog has kept a hospital trust in special measures following an inspection which found the majority of core services still require improvement.   

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospital Trust (BHRUT) which runs King George Hospital in Goodmayes and Queen's Hospital in Romford was placed in special measures in December 2013. 

Following a seven-day inspection in March by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a report published today has said the trust still requires improvement despite making "significant progress" in some areas. 

The CQC said the culture had "significantly improved" and had "encouraged pride, responsibility candour, openness and honesty" within the trust. 

But King George Hospital and Queen's were "persistantly failing" to meet the national four-hour waiting time target, there was a backlog of serious incidents and the quality of investigations into serious incidents lacked detail, plus there was a shortage of medical and nursing staff to meet paitents needs. 

Inspectors found there were not enough doctors in the A&E department to ensure patients were kept safe at all times and some patients were waiting longer than 18 weeks to be treated after referral. 

In June, 94.5 per cent of patients were seen within four hours across Queen’s and King George, just short of the 95 per cent target.  

Inspectors who visited Queen's said lessons had not been learned and improvements were not made after things had gone wrong and some staff were criticised as being "incompent" in carrying out their roles. 

Areas seen to improve were the end of life services at both King George and Queen's which were rated as 'good', while outstanding practices were seen in several services including stroke, dementia and oral chemotherapy.

The trust has said it will focus on cutting waiting times and improving clinical governance and said the serious incidents backlog have now been completely cleared with no outstanding investigations.   

Chief executive of BHRUT Matthew Hopkins, said: "The report highlights the challenges of operating two A&E departments and being able to staff both consistently well.

"We are making great strides in improving care for our patients, and we have set strong foundations to continue our journey to become outstanding.

"After 12 months of delivering our improvement plan: Unlocking our potential, this is a real milestone for the organisation.

"Our staff and partners have worked incredibly hard to get us this far, and we will now focus our efforts on continuing our improvement journey."

CQC chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, added: "Eighteen months ago, I was so concerned by the serious failures in the quality of care that I recommended that Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust should go into special measures. 

"I am pleased to report that with the package of support provided by the Trust Development Authority, and with a new leadership in place, the trust has shown that it made significant improvement.

"Despite considerable attention the trust is failing to meet waiting time targets in the emergency department.

"Outpatients and diagnostics can't cope with demand and the children's services do not meet local need.

"While I am satisfied that the trust has made real improvement,  there are further improvements still to be developed and be implemented by the executive team. 

"For that reason I feel that the trust should remain in special measures."

CQC inspectors will return in the coming months to check on BHRUT's progress.