Hospital trusts form county’s first group

Two NHS hospital trusts in Kent and Medway will strengthen collaboration by forming the county’s first group.

Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Medway NHS Foundation Trust will establish a shared Board, starting with the appointment of a Group Chief Executive and Group Chair.

Group working is increasingly common in the NHS, across hospital, ambulance, community and mental health trusts, with two or more working together under shared leadership, while remaining separate organisations.

The neighbouring trusts, which serve approximately 800,000 people across North Kent and Medway and employ around 10,500 staff, will remain independent trusts, and continue to have senior local leadership at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, and Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham.

This decision to form a group follows an independent review, commissioned by NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, which identified significant opportunities to improve patient care and strengthen services by collaborating more closely.

It recommended that forming a group was the best way to do this, and ruled out merging the two organisations into a new trust, or continuing as they are now.

Jonathan Wade, Chief Executive of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Interim Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Dartford and Medway are natural partners. Both organisations have great strengths and expertise, and we already work together in some clinical and support services.

“By working together as a group, we can better learn from each other, build on what we each do well, and drive innovation that improves patient care and strengthens our services for the future.”

Jackie Craissati, Chair of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, said: “Forming a group helps both trusts to set firm foundations for the future, as partners who share a collective passion and determination to bring down waiting times, improve patient care, better support our hard-working staff and improve how we use our resources.”

Once appointed, the Group Chief Executive and Group Chair will start the process to agree how the Group will operate, develop shared priorities and a future leadership structure.

John Goulston, Chair of Medway NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our priority is to develop ways of working that will help us better address our shared challenges so that we can provide all our patients with the high-quality services they need and deserve.

“Working as a group can help us to make better decisions that focus our efforts on improving patient care while making best use of limited NHS resources.”

Jonathan Wade added: “We are at the start of a journey that will take time with many steps along the way. For our staff and patients, nothing changes now in day-to-day services. We are committed to listening to our staff, patients and partners, and learning from experience elsewhere, so that we take the right decisions for our local communities.”

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