Healthcare in Kent

Certain specialised services are directly commissioned by NHS England, coordinated through the South East integrated regional team.

Kent (and Medway) formed a sustainability and transformation plan area in March 2016 with Glenn Douglas, the Chief Executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust as its leader.

In February 2018 it was reported that the Encompass project in Whitstable, Faversham & Canterbury had seen a 7.3% reduction in the emergency admissions rate in the area between 2014-15 and the 12 months to September 2017.

It includes data feeds from the four acute hospital trusts, three community services providers, two community-based mental health services providers, 225 main GP practices and 85 branch sites, and around 466 social care teams based in local authorities.

[5] Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust started proceedings for a judicial review of the decision in February 2016.

[6] West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group cancelled all 1,700 non-emergency operations due before April in February 2017 to save £3.2 million by delaying them until the new financial year.

[8] Financial issues in three of the four East Kent CCGs and all four being placed in special measures resulted in August 2018 of an amalgamation of management functions (some other commissioning functions had been long aligned)[9] The clinical commissioning groups in Kent were asked in September 2018 to find an extra £2 million a year for the wheelchair service, operated by Millbrook Healthcare, which has a contract worth £6.2 million a year because of the increasing complexity of cases.

Primecare was placed in special measures in August 2017 by the Care Quality Commission after it was rated inadequate – only seven months after it started full operations.

[12] Whitstable Medical Practice, with 53,000 patients, is one of the largest in England and is proposing to build a new community hospital and a "teaching nursing home".

Virgin Care secured a seven year £126 million contract to run services in community hospitals in Dartford, Gravesham, Swanley and Swale in January 2016.

[18] The contract in north Kent was suspended in June 2020 because of concerns about long waiting times for treatment.

[19] The practice at Sheppey Community Hospital was run by DMC Healthcare from 2009 on an alternative provider medical services contract which was terminated in 2021.

[26] 76 children and young people out of 793 who had waited longer than the 18 week target time for treatment were put at risk by long delays in 2018/9.