Reflecting on another year of challenges, achievements and hope

It's that time of year when we take a look back at everything we've achieved together during another exceptionally challenging year.

2022 was a year where we had almost two million patient contacts, looked after 1,800 patients in our community hospitals, provided 195,000 vaccinations to school children, carried out more than 70,000 visits to parents and recruited 780 people to a variety of roles.

The numbers above and the stories below may only be a snapshot, but I hope you agree it reflects the hard work and commitment of our incredible colleagues, partners and volunteers. The successes are not ours alone and could not be achieved without your invaluable support. Thank you and we look forward to working with you in 2023.

Mairead McCormick
Chief Executive 

January | Facing the challenges head on

We continued to tackle Covid and the Omicron variant, playing our part in the vaccination booster programme for anyone aged five and over. Our colleagues in the school-age immunisations service continued to work hard to roll-out flu vaccinations to school children in Kent and Medway. As always, our teams continued to deliver as we tackled a rise in respiratory illnesses.

Inpatients at Tonbridge Community Hospital benefitted from the installation of an OMI projector which allows them to play interactive games. Initially used for exercise and rehabilitation, therapeutic workers use it with patients who are living with dementia.

February | We grew our workforce with help from overseas

Our first cohort of nurses from Nigeria and Ghana joined community hospital teams across Kent. Among them were Dami, Yetty and Temi (pictured) who joined the ward team at Deal Hospital and were featured in Community Health magazine.

By the end of 2022 we will have employed 101 internationally-trained nurses and deployed them to teams across Kent including district nursing and hospitals.

We also placed our amazing apprentices in the spotlight as we celebrated their achievements during National Apprenticeships Week. We have more than two hundred apprentices, from entry-level learners to Masters degree students, including physiotherapy apprentice Connor O'Malley (pictured): “It was something I had always wanted to do and I’d been looking out for an opportunity where I could combine study and work.”

March | A bright future for Deal hospital and recruitment in the spotlight

As part of our sustainability strategy, we installed 284 solar panels at Deal hospital, as well as investing in a community garden for staff, volunteers and patients to enjoy.

We launched 'Ready to care', a recruitment campaign for the East Kent Health and Care Partnership – a coalition of NHS, Kent County Council, social care and voluntary sector organisations in east Kent. The campaign is designed to encourage anyone who can bring life skills and experience, rather than formal qualifications, to apply for entry-level care and support roles and start a rewarding career.

We completed the 2021/22 financial year having delivered 1.5 million face-to-face appointments and 550,000 virtual appointments on top of delivering 800,000 covid, flu and school-age vaccinations,16,172 visits to new parents, caring for more than 4,346 people at the end of their life and supporting 2,665 people to quit smoking.

April | Closing the doors on the Pentagon

After 13 months and more than 162,000 jabs, our teams gave their last vaccinations at the Pentagon Centre in Chatham when we closed its doors as a Covid vaccination hub in April, an incredible achievement from everyone involved including NHS Kent and Medway and Medway Council.

The vaccination programme was also recognised at the Healthwatch Awards as part of the Kent and Medway Vaccination Team win. KCHFT scooped a further three Healthwatch awards for involving and listening to patients.

May | Shifting attitudes on sexual health

We launched the Sexual Health SHIFT website on behalf of several European partners. SHIFT is a partnership project funded by the Health and Europe Centre and involves KCHFT, Kent County Council, Metro charity, University of Chichester and other partners in France and the Netherlands. The project is focused on shifting attitudes towards sex and sexual health in people over 45. The Sexual Health Team is involved in the research and the roll out of the project and our Communications Team was contracted to design and build the project website.

June | Step-by-step we build the future

Our ground-breaking ceremony in June celebrated the start of the build of the new £13.5 million Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre, a project to provide truly integrated care at the heart of the Edenbridge community.

We joined the nation in celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with garden parties at Faversham Cottage Hospital and Hawkhurst Community Hospital.

Queen’s Nurse and Deputy Head of Specialist Clinical Services, Caroline Knott, enjoyed celebrations with an invitation to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Fundraiser Steve Bamford also went along thanks to an invitation from i care through NHS Charities Together, as a thank you for all his incredible fundraising activity.

Our first Carers' Conference with Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust welcomed carers joining us on our Triangle of Care journey, as we continue to improve how we work with carers.

Another first for us as we became an accredited Real Living Wage employer, the first trust in Kent and Medway to do so.

"Being a Real Living Wage employer means that we have committed to paying our colleagues a wage which reflects the real costs and pressures of everyday life." Victoria Robinson-Collins, Director of People and Organisational Development

July | A new chapter

Our new Chief Executive Mairead McCormick took the reins on 1 July, taking over from acting Chief Executive Gordon Flack who had been in the role since January. One of her first duties was attending our annual KCHFT Staff Awards as we celebrated our teams fantastic achievements.

Mairead reflected on her first day in her first ever blog for the trust.

Our South East DriveAbility Service joined Kent Police to launch a new 'fitness to drive' scheme, supporting people as an alternative to being prosecuted or fined.

Along with improving road safety, this scheme can also support drivers who may not be aware of medical conditions that could be a contributing factor in a road traffic incident. With our intervention, medical help can support the driver, helping them to remain safely on the roads.

August | Pride in our NHS and helping people to live well

We celebrated Pride events alongside our NHS colleagues from trusts across Kent and East Sussex. From June to August we attended events in London, Canterbury, Margate, Hastings and Gravesend to show support for our LGBTQ+ colleagues.

TV and radio presenter Gloria Hunniford cut the ribbon to open the newly-transformed garden at Sevenoaks Hospital in August. The garden was transformed by two local businesses, with financial assistance from the hospital League of Friends and Sevenoaks Lions Club, in memory of Susan Hamilton-Rigby, who worked at the hospital for 28 years.

People in east Kent were able to get advice about how to shop, cook and eat well for less at special events during the summer. One You Kent worked with district councils in east Kent as part of the East Kent Wellbeing and Health Integrated Partnership to deliver the series of events.

New multi-disciplinary team (MDT) diabetes clinics for patients in east Kent will be rolled out after we successfully trialled the MDT clinics with colleagues in the Herne Bay Primary Care Network (PCN), making services and teams more accessible for complex and poorly controlled diabetic patients.

September | Honouring our late Queen and others in special awards

Patients and colleagues at our community hospitals gathered in day rooms, joining more than seven billion people worldwide to watch the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

We were awarded the highest accolade in the Kent and Medway Workplace Wellbeing Awards – a platinum award for our work on staff health and wellbeing. Initiatives highlighted were the staff choir, the football team, easy access to counselling and fast track physio for MSK.

Thanet Health Community Interest Company’s Home Visiting Service and our Complex Acute Response Team (C-ART) gained national recognition at the NHS Parliamentary Awards.

After being nominated by Roger Gale MP, the services won the award (South East Region) for Excellence in Primary and Community Care, beating some 700 nominations in the category. You can watch the team in action here.

Mega-fundraiser Steve Bamford completed a grand tour of our hospitals, UTCs and sexual health clinics in Kent to raise money for our charity, i care, and improve awareness of the undetectable = untransmissable HIV campaign.

October | A new-look ward for Herne Bay and driving up quality in our services

Alison smiling as Heron Ward reopens

There were emotional scenes at Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Herne Bay as overjoyed colleagues returned to the newly-refurbished Heron Ward.

Following the £900,000 makeover at the site, the ribbon to reopen the ward was cut by Healthcare Assistant Jo Stuttle, 74. Described as ‘the heart of the team’ by Ward Matron Alison Read, Jo has worked at the hospital for 27 years.

The 19-bed ward now boasts a new reception area and nurses’ station. Patient spaces are freshly decorated, with new flooring, LED-lighting, bedside televisions and Juliet balconies in the side rooms.

November | Recognition for our pharmacy colleagues

Our Pharmacy Team won the Patient Safety Award at this year's Health Service Journal Awards in London. The team was recognised for their commitment to supporting children with complex needs in special schools in Kent, like Sasha, who was featured with her mum Kimberley in Community Health magazine.

Organisations across health, voluntary and community services joined our first community #WinterWell event in Folkestone to connect people to the support and services they need this winter. More than 300 people walked through the doors to get on-the-spot advice on food banks, fuel costs, immunisations and staying well this winter.

We also handed out hundreds of donated coats to those who needed them while the Salvation Army served hundreds of cups of tea. Thank you to everyone who helped make the event such a success.

Together with Kent County Council, NHS Kent and Medway, local schools and settings, we all want to do better for Kent and Medway's children and families.

As the Special Education Needs (SEND) report landed in November, we pledged to listen harder and do more to support families. As part of the improvement work, we trialled a rapid assessment for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in specific cases.

KCHFT's Dr Sunhil Bhide worked on the project with East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust. Working together, we are committed to doing more to get support to families sooner.

December | Doing more and striving for better in 2023

We started December, with members of the Royal British Legion witnessing our signing of the Armed Forces Covenant. The pledges underlying the covenant will help us put in place measures to support our military families as well improve access to our services for veterans.

We are developing vital Hospital at Home virtual wards as part of the East Kent Health and Care Partnership, for people with acute respiratory infections and those living with frailty, as part of a national vision to provide 40 to 50 virtual beds, per 100,000 of the population by December 2023. Working with acute partners, local care homes, GPs and hospices, the aim is to provide hospital-level care to patients in their own homes.

Thank you for all your support throughout 2022. Working together we have achieved so much. Here's to 2023 and whatever it may bring.