Agenda item

1.     Dr A Richardson (Director of Partnerships and Transformation, Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust) referred to the information in the report and explained that the purpose of the paper was to provide a further update on the work that was underway in response to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) review and the Healthwatch report which was issued in October 2025.

2.     There was a robust plan in place to address the findings from both the CQC and Healthwatch. The plan was structured around four domains:

·         Safety and Risk

·         Access and waiting times

·         Environment, experience and equity and

·         Leadership, culture and governance

3.     With regard to safety and risk, a key focus had been the implementation of a new nationally mandated risk assessment approach for patients. Its objective was to provide a formulative approach to risk assessment that was co-produced with patients, and to manage risk more effectively for those who were waiting for interventions

4.     In relation to access and waiting times, community mental health services in Kent and Medway had been undergoing the largest transformation in the last 30 years. This had involved the implementation of a new model of care, Mental Health Together. This model proposed the development of a Partnership Delivery Model which would more clearly define the role of provider partner agencies to enable service delivery as close to local communities as possible.

5.     In terms of environment, experience and equity, the main aim was to ensure that the estates strategy was continually refreshed and reflected the needs of patients and staff. The Trust had several community buildings that were no longer fit for purpose and had clear plans for addressing this issue. The Trust also planned to undertake an accessibility audit from January to June 2026 of all its buildings.

6.     In terms of leadership, culture and governance, the CQC highlighted in its report 30 mandatory training programmes where compliance was below statutory requirements. A number of actions had been taken to improve mandatory training compliance. However, the Trust was still below the 90% compliance target for 3 training programmes.

7.     A Member asked for some clarification about the implementation of the National Risk Assessment Model.

a       Dr A Qazi (Chief Medical Officer, Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust) clarified that this framework was nationally mandated for all mental health organisations and not just for the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust.

8.     In answer to a question about the number of people on the waiting list, Dr Richardson said that the overall waiting list for Mental Health Together in Kent averaged 6,000 patients. This had to be balanced against receiving an average of about 3,800 referrals per month. In March 2025, the waiting list was about 7,000 people, therefore there had been a reduction of 1,000 patients who were waiting to be treated in the past nine months.

9.     In answer to a question on whether there were collaborative links between the Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust and Healtwatch, Dr Richardson confirmed that there was a healthy, collaborative relationship between the two organisations. In April, the Trust was going to launch its new strategy which was centred around patient experience.

RESOLVED that the Committee note and comment on the update and the response to the report.