#KCHFT wrapped — our best bits from 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved together as #TeamKCHFT this year.
It’s been a year of change and challenge — but we’ve still made great progress in bringing care closer to home.
We’ve continued to develop our services like Home First and Hospital at Home and we’ve strengthened partnerships with our acute sector colleagues and the ambulance service to keep people safe and well where they want to be — at home.
In May, our hard work was recognised when we were awarded new contracts to deliver healthcare across Kent and Medway for at least the next five years, alongside our partners HCRG and Medway Community Healthcare. This partnership gives us a fantastic opportunity to combine our strengths and keep transforming services for patients.
We welcomed new colleagues from East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust and Medway Foundation Trust, who joined our community paediatric services. Our dental teams in north east London have been working hard this year on their waiting times, reducing them by 18 weeks. And colleagues in East Sussex helped an incredible 28,000 children in 2025.
We’ve also deepened relationships with other health and social care providers through Kent and Medway health and care partnerships — from east Kent being chosen as a national neighbourhood health pioneer site, to opening services at the new Thanet Community Health Hub.
You can read more about these achievements and more below, though even this doesn’t capture everything we’ve accomplished together.
Thank you to every one of my colleagues for your hard work, commitment, compassion and support this year. Together, we’ll build on this progress in 2026.
Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy new year — and I hope you enjoy looking back at another great year for #TeamKCHFT.
January
We launch more support for neurodivergent children
In January, Maidstone became the first area in Kent to roll out the This is Me approach in schools, which brings health and education together to support neurodivergent children.
This is Me focuses on a child’s strengths and needs, helping the adults around them choose strategies which work both at home and in school.
Five-year-old Sindy O’Cock, who has neurodivergent traits, found starting school difficult, but with support from her school and family alongside support from Naomi Nice from our Community Neurodiversity Support Team, part of Kent School Health, she's making great progress.
February
In February, we began engagement sessions with local residents to gather their views on a new £10 million NHS-funded health hub for Thanet, bringing together GP services, a community diagnostic centre and other health services under one roof.
Our first engagement event at the site was attended by more than 70 people, all keen to share their feedback on the plans.
The Thanet Community Health Hub welcomed the first patients in October.
International visit for Hospital at Home Team
Dr Shelley Sage and Dr Shelagh O'Riordan, from our Frailty Hospital at Home Team, were guest speakers at a British Society of Gerontology workshop on best practice in the care of older people in Sandwich in February.
They talked about our hospital at home programme, which provides hospital-level care for people in the community. A delegation from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea had hands-on experience with our virtual ward equipment.
March
First Kent and Medway Race and Health Conference
Maternal and child health, along with wider health inequalities were key topics at the first Kent and Medway Race and Health Conference in March, hosted by our Healthy Communities Steering Group.
More than 150 health and social care partners came together to explore how we can deliver equitable care for people from ethnic minority communities.
Read more about the conference
BBC spotlighted our amazing vaccinators
BBC South East featured Oral Health Practitioner Joanne Downs to mark five years on from the Covid pandemic. Jo spoke about her time working as a vaccinator in one of our centres.
She said: "The vaccination team made me feel so welcome and made sure we looked after each other, so in turn we could best protect and care for our communities."
Colleagues commended our compassion and inclusivity in NHS Staff Survey
We were #KCHFTProud to be ranked in the top five NHS community trusts in the country, according to our colleagues.
Results of this year’s national NHS Staff Survey showed we achieved fifth place for demonstrating compassion and inclusivity in the workplace.
Read about our staff survey results
April
We scooped 10 Healthwatch awards
We were #KCHFTproud to be recognised in 10 Healthwatch award categories in April.
The awards celebrated our East Kent Home First Team (pictured above), Adult Communication Assistive Technology Service, and projects supporting fishermen’s health and frailty virtual wards. Collaborative work with SECAMB and East Kent Hospitals on clinical hubs was commended, along with initiatives such as the West Kent Residents’ Charter, Cholesterol Optimisation Programme and Rural Health and Social Care Employability Programme.
May
A partnership for the future in Kent and Medway
In May, we were awarded new contracts for adult and children’s community services across Kent and Medway, working in partnership with HCRG Care Group and Medway Community Healthcare.
This marks the start of a major transformation of services over the coming months and years. Some changes are already underway, for example, in east Kent we welcomed the Children’s Health Team from East Kent Hospitals, including community paediatrics, therapies and audiology.
International Nurses' Day: Our KCHF-tea celebration
In May we celebrated International Nurses Day with our chief nurse Caroline Bates encouraging colleagues to take a moment to reset, with a team-led KCHF-tea break.
We offered thanks to nursing colleagues and highlighted stories of those achieving great things across the trust.
Look back at our International Nurses' Day celebrations
Health visitors win national award for birth trauma
Our Health Visiting Service was commended for their approach to trauma-informed training and their use of a new trauma assessment tool, winning an Annual Birth Trauma Summit award in May.
Emma Tucker, Education Lead said: "I am incredibly proud of my colleagues who's hard work makes sure families receive the support they need, improving outcomes for both parents and babies."
The compassionate support of Health Visitor Sarah Reed helped first-time mum Micia Brooks-Briant regain her confidence and find joy being a mum to her son Cruze, after a traumatic birth.
We covered Micia's story in Community Health magazine and on our website.
June
A pawfect start to Volunteers' Week
Volunteers' Week in June was the perfect time to share some of the amazing contributions of our volunteers. We celebrated by sharing stories across KCHFT, from breastfeeding support, to research and everything in between.
We also shone a mutt-needed light on two of our Pets as Therapy (PAT) dogs, Suki and Mucci, who make such a difference to our patients. Thank you to all of our volunteers – your efforts make KCHFT a better place for everyone.
July
Hundreds seen at our physio blitz clinic
Hundreds of people waiting for treatment for muscle, bone or joint conditions received expert advice and support when we ran a two-day event in Maidstone in July.
More than 450 people were seen by a range of health and social care professionals and received appropriate advice and treatment at our community appointment days.
Pictured : Community appointment day attendee Bryan Lines, 80, with IMSK business administrator, Claire Drake.
Staff awards 2025: A night full of stars
Amazing therapy teams, inspirational leaders, outstanding rising stars, super support staff and compassionate clinicians were celebrated at our staff awards ceremony in July.
The celebrations shone a spotlight on the incredible individuals and community teams pioneering new ways of working and striving to deliver high-quality care in our community.
August
Emergency hospital visits drop
A ground-breaking initiative in east Kent cut A&E visits by up to 70 per cent for patients with complex health needs. Hospitals, GPs and community services worked together to help people manage their health at home instead of relying on urgent care.
Led by the East Kent Health and Care Partnership, the project used advanced data analytics to identify those who would benefit most, alongside remote monitoring tools to support self-care and reduce unnecessary hospital visits.
September
We're top ten
In September, we were ranked seventh nationally among community trusts in the country’s new quarterly NHS league tables. We were placed in segment one, the highest performance category, under the new NHS Oversight Framework (NOF) for 2025/26.
Find out why we're one of the best
East Kent selected as national neighbourhood health pioneer
NHS England announced that East Kent had been chosen as one of the national neighbourhood health pioneer sites.
This recognition highlighted incredible work already underway among health and care partners to deliver joined-up, community-based care that puts people in east Kent at the heart of their health journey.
Neighbourhood-based care is at the forefront of the Government’s 10-Year Health Plan, helping to change the way people are supported in their homes
Find out how we're shaping the future of integrated care
We remain top for health and wellbeing
Our digital wellbeing navigator, staff fitness challenge and a thriving network of nearly 200 health and wellbeing champions, helped us retain our platinum standard in the Medway Healthy Workplaces Programme, an award which recognises continued commitment to supporting the wellbeing of colleagues.
Since first achieving platinum status in 2022, we've expanded and enhanced our health and wellbeing programme, providing colleagues with a wider range of support and opportunities to thrive both personally and professionally.
Find out more about how we support our colleagues
October
Celebrating degrees and decades of dedication
In October, we held a double celebration as colleagues marked their achievements at two special awards events, our long service awards and our celebrating you event.
Our long service awards celebrated colleagues with continuous service ranging from 15 to 50 years. Together, they clocked up more than 3,300 years of NHS service. While our celebrating you event recognised more than 130 colleagues who completed a formal qualification between September 2024 and July 2025.
Read more about our fabulous colleagues
Kent Manual for Mealtimes launched
A new NHS resource, aimed at helping care home residents with common eating and drinking issues was launched in October.
The manual, produced by KCHFT speech and language therapists and dietitians, provides step-by-step instructions for care home staff on identifying what may be causing problems for people with eating, drinking or swallowing and provides tips and advice to help.
Find out more about the manual
Award for teen text service
Jean Ravenna from our School Health Service, received an award from Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust for improving young people's access to support.
Working with Beverley Hunt from our Communications Team, Jean led a campaign using Snapchat to promote ChatHealth, a confidential text service. Engagement soared, with contacts rising from 96 to 979 in two years, a 925 per cent increase.
November
Celebrating a hat-trick of national digital award wins
In November, our HR and IT professionals won the Digital Solutions Empowering the Workforce category in the RLDatix Awards, following earlier wins at the Automation Anywhere Imagine Awards and the Our Health Heroes Awards.
The awards recognises the use of process automation (RPA) to create a ‘bot’ that cuts hiring time and improves onboarding for new colleagues.
Read more about our digital awards
MP learns how we deliver hospital-level care at home
Ashford MP and qualified nurse Sojan Joseph MP, pictured, visited Trinity House to hear more about our hospital at home services.
Frailty Consultant Dr Shelagh O'Riordan, pictured, explained how our teams work with GPs, the ambulance service and other clinicians, to provide hospital-level urgent care to elderly patients, helping avoid potentially distressing trips to A&E.
Shelagh said: "thanks to advances made in the past five years, we are now able to deliver urgent hospital-level care for many conditions in people's homes, helping to reduce hospital admissions." One carer described the service as: "Like a whirlwind without the wind."
A whirlwind without the wind: Read Paul's story
December
National director impressed with our progress
National director Dr Fuller was impressed with our neighbourhood health progress
Kent’s pioneering neighbourhood health work is setting an example for the rest of the country, according to NHS England’s Medical Director and National Programme Director for Neighbourhood Health, Dr Claire Fuller.
During a visit to Oaklands Health Centre in Hythe, Dr Fuller met teams from the Folkestone and Hythe district pioneer programme and saw first-hand how local leadership and strong relationships in east Kent are transforming care.
Community comes together for women’s health event
Visitors to our Women’s Winter Well event in Folkestone welcomed free health checks, lifestyle advice and fun exercise classes.
The event, run together with Folkestone and Hythe District Council, had more than 30 stands offering advice on women’s health and included our Expert Patients Programme and One You service.
Women's Winter Well event success
Phillippa wins award for advocacy work
Philippa Brewer from our Frequent Service User Team ended the year on a high, after being awarded a Co-occurring Conditions Champion Recognition Award by Kent County Council.
Philippa received the award for her advocacy work, supporting people who live with both mental health needs and addiction, a combination that often results in them becoming some of the most frequent attenders at A&E.
Find out more about Phillipa's work
Finally, we would like to say a big thank you to all our colleagues, patients and partners for your hard work during 2025 and send our best wishes for 2026.
Enjoy this year's Christmas film, which features some of our teams helping to keep families together at Christmastime. Thank you, #TeamKCHFT.
