East Kent

East Kent Health and Care Partnership

Who are we?

East Kent Health and Care Partnership is made up of a wide range of organisations across east Kent, which have come together to provide better health and care for the people of the east Kent. It includes hospitals, community care, GPs and social care, mental health, councils and commissioning colleagues, as well as Healthwatch representatives. 

What’s our vision?

Our ambition is to work together so we can to deliver better health and wellbeing outcomes for the people of east Kent. Not only that, but we strive to be the best employers for our people, so we can attract the very best workforce to serve our population. 

Our emphasis is on self-care, proactive prevention and local care closer to home – and that means being innovative in the way in which we transform services. It’s really important to us that our patients, clients or service users, experience a seamless journey between our organisations. One way we will do this is through working better together, using technology and sharing digital care records.

We will make the priorities of the NHS Long Term Plan – including developing our outpatient care, prevention, cancer care, diagnostics and workforce care our priorities and, most importantly, we will take into account the impact that housing and deprivation can have on the health of our population.

Our health and care partnership is provider-led and plans to hold contracts with NHS Kent and Medway, enabling local system partners to collectively decide how services are developed and provided.

What will it mean for patients?

• Better joined-up local services with patients at the centre: One service and one team.
• A joined-up focus for population health and the ability to target resources where they are most needed.
• Providers working together, not against each other, to deliver patient care.
• Improvement in access, experience and clinical/care outcomes.
• The partnership will have the ability to move quickly to improve services for patients.

Which organisations are part of East Kent Health and Care Partnership?

• East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT)
• Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Healthwatch Kent
• Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
• Kent County Council
• Ashford Borough Council
• Canterbury City Council
• Dover District Council
• Folkestone and Hythe District Council
• Thanet District Council
• Kent Local Medical Committee
• East Kent primary care networks
• South East Coast Ambulance Service
• IC24
• East Kent GP Confederation
• East Kent VCSE Alliance 

The people we look after

East Kent Health and Care Partnership serves a population of more than 720,000. This figure increased by around 11,000 last year, with the highest increase among people who are over 65. The number of people aged over 65 is forecast to increase by 58 per cent by 2036, with the number of people aged over 85 expected to increase by 131 per cent during the same time.

East Kent is bordered by the sea, with people very rarely travelling outside its boundaries to access healthcare. There are some areas of deprivation in east Kent, which are mostly located around the coast. Some parts of Thanet are among the most deprived in England, with 21 per cent of Thanet’s population living in the bottom 10 per cent of the most deprived nationally.

East Kent has increasing rates of hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. This contributes to increased demand for health and social care services, including a six to seven per cent yearly increase in the number of patients going to hospital for urgent or emergency care.

Governance

• East Kent Health and Care Partnership Board – agrees and oversees our programme of work.
• Improvement Board – focuses on quality improvement.
• Urgent Care Delivery Board – leads on accident, emergency and urgent treatment centre work across east Kent. 
• Clinical Cabinet – agrees our clinical priorities for improvement and oversees the clinical care, quality and safety of everything we do. 
• Wellbeing and Health Improvement Partnership – addresses the health and wellbeing of our east Kent population; focusing on prevention. 

Get involved

We have adopted a principle of co-production and engagement to make sure the local community is involved. The partners in East Kent Health and Care Partnerships are keen to meet colleagues across health and social care to understand the challenges professionals in this sector face so we can work with you to plan for improved outcomes for patients. You can also get in touch or subscribe to our East Kent Health and Care Partnership newsletter.