National recognition for chief executive: Top 50 in the country

Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s (KCHFT) Chief Executive Paul Bentley has today been named as one of the top 50 NHS chief executives in the country.

The accolade comes from the Health Service Journal (HSJ) awards, which each year looks at more than 400 chief executives across the country and ranks the top 50.

Paul, who has been KCHFT’s chief executive for the past five years, said: “This is not really about me. While I feel honoured to be included in the HSJ list, I feel very privileged to lead such a courageous, dedicated and committed organisation. Each one of our 5,000-strong team is committed to delivering high-quality care to our patients, clients and service users and I feel very proud of what we do.

“Without our team members, KCHFT would not be the organisation that it is. This recognition, in one of the most gruelling and relentless years in NHS history, says much more about my colleagues, than it does about me.’’

Under Paul’s leadership, KCHFT was rated as outstanding by the Care Quality Commission in 2019. This month, staff rated the organisation among the best in the country to work for in the annual NHS staff survey results, with staff rating the trust as one of the highest performing community trusts in the country in five areas.

The trust, which is one of the largest community health providers in England, has also been leading delivery of the five large-scale vaccination centres across Kent and Medway, which this week vaccinated their 100,000 person.

When judging who should be in the list, judges took into account:

• the personal example set by the chief executive, including their leadership style and behaviours, such as approach to mentoring and developing more junior colleagues, encouraging inclusive leadership; how they work with their board and their standing among their peers, as well as personal qualities
• performance of the organisation they lead, including quality of care, performance against key targets, financial performance and staff survey results
• the contribution the chief executive has made to the wider health and social care system, such as leading on important projects, either nationally or locally.

KCHFT’s Chair John Goulston praised the achievement saying: “I am delighted that Paul’s fantastic work as KCHFT’s chief executive has been recognised.

“This is testament to the way in which Paul leads the trust, with a passionate drive to make sure we deliver high-quality care to the people that we see, treat and care for. It’s also recognition that the key to providing excellent services is having highly engaged and empowered staff working together with our local health and care partners.’’

Judges included Care Quality Commission Chief Inspector Professor Ted Baker, NHS Confederation Chief Executive Lord Victor Adebowale, NHS Providers Chief Executive Chris Hopson and NHS Improvement Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard.

As well as being KCHFT’s chief executive, Paul sits on the board of the Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and is senior responsible officer (SRO) for community services transformation across the south east. He is also SRO for the east Kent integrated care partnership and is leading work to improve care for people with learning disabilities and autism; something he feels personally passionate about.

More information is here.