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Transforming health and social care in Kent and Medway

What does this mean for your hospitals?

The NHS, social care and public health in Kent and Medway are working together to plan how we will transform health and social care services to meet the changing needs of local people. 

It is the first time we have all worked together in this way and it gives us a unique opportunity to bring about positive and genuine improvement in health and social care delivery over the next five years.

Our case for change outlines sets out why we need to change the way we work to improve how we care for patients and get better value for the money we have available. You can find out more in these frequently asked questions

Our draft Health and Social Care Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) sets out how we think services need to change over the next five years to achieve the right care for people for decades to come. It will help us deliver the Five Year Forward View, which sets out the national vision for health and social care.

A summary of the STP is available, as well as a glossary to explain the abbreviations and the terms used, and some frequently asked questions.  

It is work in progress – we are sharing our thinking on where we need to focus to bring about better health and wellbeing, better standards of care, and better use of staff and funds.

We will only be able to decide on and implement any changes following a period of engagement and consultation with staff and our communities – this is just the start of the process.

We need to do this because our current health and social care system isn’t set up to meet the needs of today’s population. Many more people are living longer – which is great – but they want and need a different kind of care.  

Although most people get good care most of the time, services are not always good enough, too many people wait too long for treatment and we can’t recruit enough staff. So, first and foremost, we need to design services that improve care for our patients.  At the same time, we are facing a big financial problem. Across Kent and Medway, health and social care have £3.4billion in funding but overspent by £141million last year. Without change, we will be looking at a gap of £486million in our budgets by 2020/21. 

The plan focuses on:

  • prevention of ill-health
  • local care  - better access to care and support in people’s own communities
  • mental health – just as important as physical health
  • hospital care – excellent wherever it is delivered.

Please get involved

Find out more about what we want to achieve and our ideas so far by reading Transforming Health and Social Care in Kent and Medway. It also has details of the local clinical commissioning group websites where you can find out how you can have your say.

To find out about opportunities to get involved in the coming months, anyone can become a member of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, or you can join your GP patient participation group or clinical commissioning group Health Network.