A look back at 2023
I want to thank you for all your support in 2023. Together, we have been able to achieve so much for the people we care for, their families and our colleagues.
But before we say ‘hello 2024’, let's take a moment to reflect on the year we've had and recognise the incredible impact our teams have made on the lives of people we serve.
Enjoy this look back at another fantastic year for #TeamKCHFT and I wish you the very best for 2024.
Mairead McCormick, Chief Executive
January
Reducing health inequalities to help everyone stay well
Our Health Visiting Service set up a new project to help Roma families stay well and get vital health advice through specialist drop-in sessions in Cliftonville, Margate. It was the idea of Health Visitor Jemma Scott, who found there were many families who didn't know about their local health services.
Jemma said: "We have been able to give people advice on healthy eating, staying active and living a healthier lifestyle.
"People have also been helped with dental and hospital appointments and letters and given advice on self-managing their own health conditions, where possible.”
Trailblazing new ways of working
Remote working opened up new possibilities for both patients and clinicians in Kent, with a fully-virtual team of dietitians from around the country joining #TeamKCHFT. We met the five trailblazers from all corners of the UK who are hoping to provide the best possible dietetics care for patients in Kent.
Dietetics Community Team Manager Heidi Rose said: “Remote working was essential during the pandemic and has now opened up the possibility to provide patients the choice of both virtual and face-to-face consultations.
"Employing remote dietitians has helped us with recruitment challenges and has paved the way for experienced clinicians to join our team and expand our expertise.”
Keeping services running safely through strike action
When the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced strike action in January, KCHFT respected the difficult decision some people took to take action.
As always you pulled together. Service leaders and colleagues worked hard to keep services running safely. About 300 nursing colleagues took part in the strike over two days and patients were kept safe.
A resolution was later to be reached in May 2023, when an NHS pay deal was signed off by the NHS Staff Council.
February
A step closer for Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre
Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre moved one step closer to completion, as the final bolt in the steel frame was tightened at an historic topping off ceremony.
This was followed by a month of engagement in March to talk to the public about the final list of services and asking them how we make best use of the community space, so it provides a truly integrated health and wellbeing hub for the town.
Tackling workforce woes through apprenticeships
We celebrated our apprentices during National Apprenticeship Week 2023. With health sector vacancies at a record high, we battled back by offering more than 300 fully-paid apprenticeships, from nursing to administrators.
Paul Rothwell, Physiotherapy Apprentice, shared his story, about how redundancy from his design job sparked a complete career change.
Paul said: "When I’m working alongside the physios, I’m inspired by their knowledge and skills. It feels really exciting to think that after I’ve completed my apprenticeship, I’ll have that experience too.”
Read more about our apprentices.
March
National survey revealed we are among the best
The results of the NHS Staff Survey 2022 were published, with seven out of 10 people saying they would recommend KCHFT as a place to work – five per cent higher than other community trusts.
We ranked fifth in the country among community NHS trusts, with eight out of 10 colleagues also saying they would recommend the care provided by colleagues to their friends and family.
We opened a virtual respiratory ward with our partners at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust as part of the East Kent Health and Care Partnership, for people with acute respiratory infections to receive hospital-level care at home with remote and in-person monitoring.
We completed the 2022/23 financial year having delivered 1.75 million face-to-face appointments and 475,000 virtual appointments on top of delivering 235,242 Covid, flu and school-age vaccinations,15,901 visits to new parents, caring for more than 3,457 people at the end of their life and supporting 2,774 people to quit smoking.
April
Award-winning work
We received a bronze award as part for our work to support the armed forces community and to become an armed forces-friendly organisation.
We earned three Healthwatch Recognition Awards for projects delivered by our services. Our NHS Health Checks Team picked up one of the awards for their work delivering NHS health checks to fishermen in Ramsgate.
Our Patient Engagement Team was recognised for developing a training resource to support services to engage with patients and carers to improve and develop healthcare services.
Our #WinterWell community event in Folkestone last November earned us our third Healthwatch award, for bringing together more than 20 organisations to help people stay well through winter.
It was a triple-whammy for our Pulmonary Rehabilitation Service, winning three awards at the Celebrating Advanced Practice in Kent and Medway Conference, following work to develop a walking test for patients with chronic respiratory conditions. Read the full story.
Amanda amazed by hardworking teams
How we care for people in their own homes and keep them out of hospital was in the spotlight during a visit from NHS England’s Director for Primary Care and Community Services. Dr Amanda Doyle paid a visit to the virtual wards team in Herne Bay and our Acute Response Team (ART) in Margate.
Read more about Amanda's visit
May
Graduation for our first home-grown nurses
After a lot of hard work, determination and the arrival of a few babies, our first cohort of registered nursing degree apprentices (RNDAs) successfully graduated, taking up roles across the trust as fully-qualified nurses.
They are the first students to complete the four-year programme through the trust’s Clinical Academy, which was set up in 2019 to help recruit and train nurses.
WATCH: Laura Stoneham and Cassie Parks shared their experiences of completing the registered nurse degree apprenticeship.
Read more about our graduate nurses.
June
Bloomin' marvellous hospital garden
Gardeners' World presenter Frances Tophill went back to her Deal roots to open a beach-themed garden for NHS staff and patients to enjoy at Victoria Hospital.
Having become overgrown and unusable during the pandemic, local volunteers, supported by staff from the hospital, worked their magic to create a peaceful garden that takes inspiration from Deal's coastal location.
Read more about our hospital garden
A sparkling evening of celebration at our staff awards
Exceptional people, inspiring leaders, outstanding teams, rising stars and compassionate clinicians were celebrated at our annual staff awards event.
The evening shone a light on the achievements of hardworking community teams and individuals, with heart-warming stories of colleagues striving for excellence and putting patients at the heart of what we do.
Read more about our staff awards.
PRIDE in our NHS
On one of the hottest days in June, KCHFT colleagues joined East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust and the Medical University Centre to represent our amazing NHS at Canterbury Pride. This was followed by a series of Pride events around the county that were attended by a number of our colleagues.
July
Celebrating NHS 75
We marked the 75th anniversary of the NHS with stories from our colleagues and patients about what the NHS means to them and what their hopes are for its future.
Health Visiting District Manager Janet Marsh, reflected on 40 years in the NHS, just as her daughter Elizabeth began her nursing apprenticeship.
Janet said: “I feel lucky to have had a career in nursing and I am proud that my daughter is now following in my footsteps. I know that with her, the term 'nurse' is in safe hands as it is with all those I work with to provide the ongoing care to the clients we serve.”
Patricia Garner was born on Friday, 13 August 1948 – a little over a month after the NHS was founded.
“Before I was born, my parents weren’t sure if I was going to be an NHS baby or not. I was due around 17 July 1948, so if I had been early – before the NHS began on 5 July – they would have had to pay, as you did for all services then."
Colleagues from across KCHFT also took part in the Parkrun for NHS events which happened nationally to celebrate #NHS75.
Helping people get their lives back
We opened our new Stroke Rehabilitation Unit at Westbrook House in Margate, to help people on the road to recovery and independence with a daily programme of therapy tailored to their individual needs.
Anthony Sinden, from New Romney, was our first patient at the unit. He was changing an engine in his lawnmower when he suffered a stroke, leaving him with reduced mobility on his left side.
Anthony said: "Although I want to get back to my farm, this is the best place for me to be at the moment. The care is great and the therapy is helping me to get stronger. It feels like it is working and helping me get back to my old self."
Read more about our new stroke unit.
August
Celebrations for our apprentices
The achievements of our apprentices were celebrated at a colourful graduation event surrounded by their family, friends and colleagues. Vivien Mackrell, Personal Assistant in our Urgent Care Service, attended our apprentice celebration event after completing her Level 5 Leadership and Management programme.
Vivien said: “It was lovely to be part of KCHFT’s apprentice celebration event and to feel recognised for all the hard of work and commitment that an apprenticeship demands. I was accompanied by my son Stephen and it was great to have him join me on the day.”
Read more about our celebrations.
Unveiling artwork to commemorate Covid vaccines
Artwork created by a college student using plastic vial caps from the Kent Covid vaccination centres was put on display at Canterbury Health Centre.
Eighteen-year-old Harri Taylor’s winning design was presented to KCHFT for people to remember the pandemic and to commemorate the thousands of vaccines delivered by healthcare teams across Kent.
Harri said: “I decided I wanted to do something more abstract to give a visual but hidden display as a subtle reminder of the pandemic, while still being upbeat for people to enjoy.”
September
A new approach to rehabilitation and recovery
Each year, we care for around 1,800 people in our community hospitals and in September at our We care conference, we launched a new approach to delivering rehabilitation and recovery to get people home sooner We followed this up with a series of roadshows in November and December, talking to colleagues in the hospitals about what the new approach should look like.
Our new stroke ward at Westbrook House provides a good example of the model of care, which you can find more about in this short film.
Read more about our new approach.
October
Celebrating long service in the NHS
We celebrated colleagues at our annual awards afternoon to recognise long service achievements ranging from 15 to 40 years. Together, they have clocked up more than 2,700 years of NHS service.
Each colleague had a different story to tell about what or who inspired them to join the NHS, with many reflecting on changes to services over the years and why they remain passionate about what they do.
Read our long service stories.
National award for reducing pain behind bars
Our Chronic Pain Team was highly commended in the PrescQIPP CIC awards in the patient safety and overprescribing category. The award was for introducing a new way of working at Elmley and Swaleside prisons in Sheppey, which resulted in fewer gabapentinoids (a non-opiate pain killer) being prescribed, which prisoners have been known to misuse and trade with fellow inmates.
November
Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre opens to patients
After more than seven years of hard work, we were delighted to open the doors at the new Edenbridge Memorial Health Centre in November.
Our new hub is designed to provide the very best care to the people of Edenbridge, closer to home and at the heart of the community.
A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this brilliant new facility a reality.
Read about the journey to Edenbridge.
We helped more people stay #WinterWell
We welcomed more than 600 people to two Winter Well events this year.
Held in Dover and Margate, people found support from our public health services and dental outreach teams, as well as picking up donated winter woollies, fresh vegetables and hot drinks.
December
It's official, #TeamKCHFT is fab
The amazing work of our colleagues was recognised at the Academy of Fab NHS Stuff annual awards, with #TeamKCHFT winning two awards.
Rapid Response Operational Manager Mary Stracey and the East Kent Acute Response Team won Highly Commended for the work they have done on virtual wards, to provide acute-level care for patients at home.
Communications Officer Jane Barlow won a Fab NHS75 Anniversary Award for sharing KCHFT quality improvement (QI) stories during the pandemic and for continually working closely with the academy.
We couldn't be more #KCHFTProud. Here's to 2024 and whatever it may bring.
