East Kent hospital staff suspended over patient 'assault' Published duration 7 February

image copyright PA Media image caption East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust alerted police over the alleged assault of a man in December

Several hospital staff have been suspended and a police investigation is under way into the alleged assault of a patient.

Both East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust and Kent Police are probing the alleged assault on 15 December at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

The trust also runs the QEQM Hospital in Margate which has been criticised over a seven-day-old baby's death.

The trust said it had alerted police over the alleged assault of a man in December.

A spokesman said it began an "investigation into an incident involving the care of a patient" following a concern raised by a member of staff.

"We are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness and reported it to the police," he added.

"We also reported it to our regulators and are keeping the patient's family informed of our investigation.

"We suspended a number of staff in order to facilitate the investigation which is currently ongoing."

Kent Police said it was investigating "an alleged assault of a man which is reported to have taken place at William Harvey Hospital".

No arrests have been made.