My first day as chief executive at #TeamKCHFT

It’s my first day at the helm as chief executive at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust and I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself.

I’m going to keep this first message to you all brief as, like anyone starting a new job, the first few weeks is about learning as much as I can about the organisation and meeting as many people as I am able to.

I’m not one for sitting in an office, so over the next couple of weeks and months I’m going to be out and about visiting our community hospitals, clinics and support services, as well as spending days on the road with our community teams. And, I hope, hearing first-hand from patients and service users about their experience of care.

So, if you meet me because one of our services is supporting you or a loved one, please talk to me. I really want to hear about you and your family’s experience.

I appreciate you might want to know a little about me. Not my CV – but what I’m about.

I’m a nurse by background and therefore have a long history directly caring for patients.

It’s at my core and doing the best for our communities is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

I grew up in Northern Ireland at the height of the troubles and I’ve seen how inequality and division can have severe consequences for communities. This was one of the main drivers for me to join the NHS and why tackling inequalities is at the top of my agenda.

This brings me nicely on to today, which is also the first day that the Kent and Medway Integrated Care System legally comes into force – set up to transform the way health and social care is provided, by making it easier for us all to work together.

We should be doing that already, right? I know. The pandemic has made us much better at that, but we still have a way to go.

A lot of what influences good health happens outside of NHS services, which is why we know we need to work better together to make a fundamental difference to our communities. Great partnerships, bring great change. I sincerely hope and am committed to forging and building those relationships to make things better for you, our communities.

Anyway, that’s enough from me now. I look forward to hearing your feedback in the weeks and months ahead.

Mairead