Previous Public Events

During 2020 we moved to online virtual events due to the current COVID-19 situation and social distancing guidance.  We will continue with virtual events in 2021 until it is safe for us to return to face to face meetings and look forward to seeing you.

Annual Members’ Meeting - 17 September 2020 (virtual event)

The 2020 Annual Members’ Meeting was a new experience for us all – being hosted virtually. We had a good attendance and were able to provide an update about the work that has happened over the last 12 months and our aspirations for the future.  

If you were unable to join on the evening and would like to see the proceedings you can watch the recording of the meeting here.

Take a look at the COVID-19 video (played during the Annual Members’ Meeting):

Supporting Organ Donation – 7 September 2020 (virtual event)

In September, in support of Organ Donation Week, we held an informal web chat to discuss the very important and emotive topic of organ donation followed by a question and answer session. 

A short presentation was provided by Dr Gill Fargher, Chair of the Organ and Tissue Donation Committee at Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Paul Hayden, Clinical Lead Critical Care, Medway NHS Foundation Trust and Alison Hill, Specialist Nurse Organ Donation, NHS Blood and Transplant. 

The presentation covered the law change, recent events and the impact of COVID-19, and most importantly the message of making your wishes known to your loved ones.

Draft Improvement Plan – 28 July 2020 (virtual event)

In July, we held an online Draft Improvement Plan Members’ event so people could hear about the Improvement Plan, and the areas identified as priorities. This offered an opportunity for people to share their view and discuss what priorities are important to them. 

The Trust Board approved Our Medway Improvement Plan and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to provide feedback on the draft plan either at our Members’ event or directly to us. Now is the time for us to deliver this plan and the care that the people of Medway and Swale deserve.

Quality Priorities – 5 February 2020

Katy White, Director of Nursing Quality and Professional Standards, led the event and updated attendees on the recently launched Quality Strategy.  We were delighted to be joined at our opening event of 2020 by so many members who were happy to participate and engage in workshop discussions to help us understand if the quality priorities are the right ones and what quality means to our patients, public and members.  

A copy of the presentation is available here.

Pharmacy and Medicines take centre stage - 19 November 2019

Our final member event of the year showcased the innovations and improvements made in the Trust’s Pharmacy and Medicines department. Chief Pharmacist, Stephen Cook, and pharmacy team colleagues provided members with the opportunity to learn more about the service, which is vital to the smooth running of the hospital.

Through the interactive information stands, our members heard what our pharmacy service is responsible for; discovered what was involved in the dispensing of medication; and learned more about our specialist clinical, women’s and children’s pharmacy services. Members also found out about aseptic pharmacy services and the in-house manufacture of specialist products for chemotherapy and parenteral nutrition. For our younger members there was a chance to hear about the different pharmacy careers.

Events like this provide you, our community, with a chance to gain valuable insight into the inner workings of your local hospital trust. We are pleased to have seen an increased attendance at our events throughout the year and look forward to welcoming many more people to another series of events that are being planned for 2020. Details will be shared with members through the ‘dates for your diary section’, regular emails and on our website and social media.

You can view slides from the event below:

Annual Members' Meeting - 19 September 2019

We were delighted to welcome more than 140 people to our Annual Members’ Meeting in September to hear about the progress we have made over the last year.

It was fascinating to hear from last year’s winners of the Chief Executive’s Scholarship for Brilliance, with a presentation on Prehabilitation services showcasing this ground-breaking new project. 

Exhibition stands introduced a range of services, and during the evening attendees also got the opportunity to raise questions and have their say about services at the hospital.

You can view slides from the event below:

'Behind the scenes' at Medway Maritime Hospital - 11 July 2019

As an NHS Foundation Trust it is important that our members have an understanding of all aspects of our operations, so in July we invited our members to take a journey behind the scenes at Medway Maritime Hospital.

This unique event started with introductions from the Trust’s Director of Estates and Facilities, Gary Lupton, and members of the Simulation Team, as we opened our doors to members to showcase some of the vital work that is often unseen to the public.

Guests were shown around the Medical Gas Building, Emergency Generator House and Clinical Engineering, with the Trust’s experienced Hospital Engineers, Leo McGregor-Davies and Paul Chambers. This gave members a chance to see the ‘nuts and bolts’ behind the safe running of the hospital’s operations.

Our Simulation Department then provided an insight into how our clinicians are trained using advanced, lifelike manikins, in a range of simulation scenarios. The Trust’s simulation staff work hard to provide high-quality, educational exercises for our clinicians, and members told us they were impressed to see this first-hand and by the levels of modern training on offer, which helps to improve experiences for our clinicians and patients.

The tour ended with a question and answer session with Chief Executive James Devine, who was quizzed on a range of topics including future plans for the hospital, car parking, supporting staff wellbeing, and career opportunities at the Trust.

Members concluded the session by telling us they were ‘pleased to have participated’, were ‘better informed about the back room operations delivered by unsung heroes’, were ‘positive and confident that things were improving’, and were ‘extremely optimistic for the future of their local hospital’.

We would like to thank members for joining us this first ever ‘behind the scenes’ event and it was encouraging to see so many of you express an interest in working more closely with the hospital in future.

You can view slides from the event below:

Watch a video from the event:

Integrated Care for Older People event - 14 May 2019

In response to your feedback, we held our May event in the afternoon in Sittingbourne, where Dr Sanjay Suman, Clinical Co-Director, Alison Streatfield, Clinical Co-Director and April Thompson, Head of Therapies, updated attendees on the integrated care we provide for older people, the progress we’ve made, and our plans for the future.

In your feedback you told us that you were:

  • ‘Pleased to hear the vision and direction of travel’
  • ‘A bit more positive that the hospital is moving forward’
  • ‘Optimistic in terms of self and family – if the strategy of Integrated Care in implemented as explained’
  • ‘Caring and responsive to increasing older adult needs’.

You can view slides from the event below:

The Kent and Medway Medical School event - 26 March 2019

Our March event looked to the future of health care in Medway. Our members heard from Dr Peter Nicholls, Dean of KentHealth, about the New Kent and Medway Medical School. The evening provided insight into how this facility will be a chance for local young people to fulfil career aspirations by training at a top level university and hospital, a view that was endorsed by some of our current medical students who showcased their journey at the Trust.

You can views slides from the event below:

Quality Priorities event - 12 February 2019

We would like to thank our members for such an engaging event and helping us understand what quality really means to our patients, public and members. You can view the slides from the event with members’ comments and ideas included:

Since the event we have collated all the input and used it to influence our 2019/20 local quality priorities. These are soon to be shared as part of our Medway quality strategy. Furthermore we used your comments to inform our ‘designing for quality’ framework to which we will be reviewing all of our core services over the next 12 months.