Previous Public Events

Prevention and Management of Frailty: The role of nutrition, exercise and comprehensive assessment - 15 November 2023

Our virtual public event on 15 November 2023 focused on common frailty problems and recent investments the Trust has made to improve care for our frail, elderly patients.

Sanjay Suman, Clinical Director and Consultant Physician within the Therapies and Older Persons’ Care Group, spoke about diagnosing and treating frail patients and gave advice on staying well and healthy this winter.

The event also shared the success stories of Sheppey Frailty Unit, which opened in January 2023 at Sheppey Community Hospital, and the £1.74 million refurbishment of Harvey Ward on our main hospital site.  

Sanjay Suman said: “Winter can be a challenging time for frail, elderly patients and we see an significant increase in the number of admissions to hospital at this time of year. We know that being in hospital can be a frightening experience and there are things you can do to reduce your risk of needing hospital care.”

You can see the presentation here.

Annual Members' Meeting - 27 September 2023

Featured speaker was AranghanLingham, Darzi Fellow and Orthopaedic Registrar, on the subject of ‘Avoidable Cardiac Arrest Calls and Creating a Learning Culture with Patient First.’ He spoke about the multi discipline team success in reducing the number of avoidable cardiac arrest calls (‘crash’ calls) from an average of five a month to just one – ultimately saving lives. 

Chief Executive Jayne Black spoke about the achievements of the past year, including improved CQC ratings in various services; the introduction of a Virtual Hub; improved care for patients with hip fractures and the launch of our new medical model. 

She also spoke about how we marked the one year anniversary of our improvement programme, Patient First, and how early successes from following this have already impacted on our performance in a number of areas. 

The Quality Account and an update on our Quality Strategy was presented by Chief Nursing Officer Evonne Hunt. Chief Financial Officer Alan Davies presented the Annual Accounts and Lead Governor Cllr David Brake gave an update on the valuable work Governors have done to support patient, public and community engagement over the past year. 

Summer Fun Day - 11 August 2023

Our popular Summer Fun Day returned with plenty of activities for families. Colleagues and members of the public joined in the fun, found out more about our hospital and helped raise funds for the Medway Hospital Charity. In total £661.74 was raised including £131.15 from the Research team’s tombola. The money raised will be used to benefit patients and staff.

Our charity mascot Tedway came along too - we can't keep him away from events like this! - and he enjoyed having his photo taken with visitors.

Our thanks to Hospital Radio Medway for providing the music, to all involved in organising the event and to everyone who came along to support.

Breaking down barriers and the stigma of perinatal mental health - 4 May 2023

Our Chief Nursing Office, Evonne Hunt welcomed and thanked our attendees for joining us at this event.

Irene Smith, Mental Health Midwife shared the services she provides here at the Medway Maritime Hospital and also shared the different places where people can find support. Donna Collins, Thrive Specialist Mental Health Midwife then spoke about Thrive (psychological support for birth trauma and loss) and the service they provide. The event provided an opportunity for them to raise awareness about the amazing work they do, and how we can break down barriers and stigma of perinatal mental health.

Irene Smith, Mental Health Midwife, said, “Raising awareness of perinatal mental health is important so we can change attitudes, and be an advocate for women and families affected by mental health difficulties. We want to help families to access the resources available in their local area.

“Did you know that around one in five women will experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or after birth?  And that 70 per cent of them will not seek advice or support as they do not think it is important or do not want to be a burden?”

Donna Collins, Thrive Specialist Mental Health Midwife, said. "Thrive is a brand new and exciting service that is rolling out within the Medway and Swale area over the coming months. We are a team of two therapists, a specialist mental health midwife and a peer support worker with lived experience. We support those who have experienced a traumatic birth or loss.

“Events like these are so important for both sharing information, and increasing awareness of services with those people who may not otherwise know what is available to support them."

This event was in of Maternal Mental Health Week May 2023. Mental health issues can develop during pregnancy or within the early years of having a baby. Some common mental health conditions includes anxiety, depression, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If these develop and are undiagnosed, they can have a detrimental impact not only on the parent but can affect their friends and families too.

If you would like the resources that were shared by the teams at this event, please email: met-tr.members-medway@nhs.net

A copy of the slides are available here

Quality Priorities - 8 February 2023

Our Chief Executive, Jayne Black welcomed our virtual attendees and shared  an overview on our improvement programme 'Patient First'.

Evonne Hunt - Chief Nursing Officer, Alison Davis - Chief Medical Officer and Gavin McDonald - Chief Operating Officer, spoke to attendees about the progress against our break through objectives and the Quality Priorities for 2022/23.

Following the presentation, attendees then participated in 'break out' rooms, where each group discussed priorities corresponding to one of the three quality domains: 'Safe', 'Effective' and 'Person-Centred Care'.

After the breakout groups, everyone came back together as one group for a final feedback session to share information from the groups and to collate feedback and facilitate and further questions.

A copy of the slides are available here.

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