Doing well together: Our organisational strategy 2026-2031
View an interactive version of our strategy
Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust provides specialist secondary mental health, learning disability
and autism services for around 1.9 million people across Kent and Medway. We care for people whose needs require specialist support beyond what can usually be provided by GPs.
This includes people experiencing severe or complex mental illness who need support from specialist community teams, crisis services, inpatient care or forensic services. As we begin this strategy, we are also excited to have become an all-age provider, expanding our services for children and young adults and all-age eating disorders, strengthening support across the whole life course.
Each year, we now expect to care for more than 1,700 people in our hospitals and over 81,000 people through our community and neighbourhood services.
Our 4,605 colleagues represent more than 82 nationalities, bringing a wide range of skills, experience and perspectives. Together they show expertise, compassion and dedication, often supporting people at the most difficult moments in their live.
The reality for Kent and Medway
Demand for healthcare services is growing across Kent and Medway. This includes mental health, where more people are coming forward for support, often with more complex needs. It means more people are waiting longer than we would like.
Support doesn’t always come early enough, and people can reach services when they are already in crisis.
Services can feel hard to navigate.
People are passed between teams and too often have to repeat their experience.
This affects everyone - patients, carers, colleagues and partners.
It creates pressure across the system and makes it harder to deliver the joined-up care people deserve.
Mental health care should be easy to access, easy to use, and built around you - not the system.
A wider challenge
What we’re seeing locally reflects a wider national picture. More people need support, and mental health services have long faced underinvestment.
The NHS 10-year Health Plan sets out how the system will respond - with a clear shift in how care is delivered.
Our ambition
We have started to build the foundations for improvement, but we know this is not yet consistent across all of our services. Over the next five years, we will focus relentlessly on delivering consistency across everything we do, including safety and quality.
We worked with colleagues, patients and partners to co-create a new identity, vision, mission and values. In response to feedback, we also changed our name from Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust to Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust, to better reflect who we are and what we do.
Our purpose is why we exist:
We exist to make mental health care easier to access, use and trust in our communities.
Our vision describes the future we want to shape:
Helping communities stay well and live well with their mental health.
Our mission sets out how we will shape our future vision:
A proactive, united mental health service for our communities across Kent and Medway.
Our values and principles guide how we behave and the choices we make every day:
Values:
- Caring
- Inclusive
- Curious
- Confident
Principles:
- Quality and safety always come first
- We co-create solutions from the start
- Our values drive every decision
- We deliver measurable impact that lasts
- Our leaders are visible and accountable
- We act as one system, in genuine partnership
- We communicate openly and clearly
- We advocate for our communities and mental health
Together, these define not only what we will achieve, but how it feels to work here, receive care and partner with us – and shape how we deliver this strategy.
The shift we will make, and the changes our community will see
We’ve listened to patients, families, colleagues and partners.
This strategy focuses on what matters most - making care easier to access, use and trust.
We are not trying to do everything.
We are focusing on the changes that will make the biggest difference.
From waiting → earlier support
People get help sooner, before they reach crisis
From fragmented → joined-up care
Services work better together and are easier to use
From inconsistent → high, consistent standards
People receive the same quality of care wherever they access services
From treatment → living well
We support people to recover, stay well and live meaningful lives
From complexity → simplicity
Colleagues spend less time on processes and more time helping people
Our 5 strategic ambitions (True Norths)
To deliver our vision, we will focus on 5 strategic ambitions - our True Norths. Click on each one to expand.
People get the right mental health support at the right time, close to home.
We will make it easier to access services and reduce waiting times so people get help sooner — before their needs become more urgent or complex. We will improve how people move through services, make access clearer for patients and GPs, and provide regular updates so people feel informed and supported while they wait.
How we will measure success in five years:
85% of people referred to Mental Health Together will be seen within 18 weeks.
People are safe when they receive care, whether in our wards or in the community.
We will deliver consistently safe, high-quality care by setting clear standards, learning from mistakes and reducing harm. We will use data to better understand outcomes, improve how we manage risk, and support staff with the skills and training they need - including caring for people with complex needs, trauma and neurodiversity.
How we will measure success in five years:
- Improved management of patient harm, with a focus on wards and community home treatment teams.
- Patient outcomes are consistent across protected characteristics.
- More clinical services are accredited for meeting high-quality standards.
People feel listened to, involved in decisions and supported in their care.
We will improve how we communicate, making sure people feel heard, respected and involved in their care. We will create more consistent and joined-up experiences, with better continuity and clearer contact with services. We will also support staff with the tools, leadership and environment they need to provide compassionate, relational care.
How we will measure success in five years:
- Significantly improved staff experience and engagement, moving closer to the best performing mental health trusts in the country.
- Continued progress against our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion plan.
- 90% of patients are extremely likely/likely to recommend the trust to their friends
and family if they needed similar care or treatment
We use our time, skills and resources well so more goes into care.
We will simplify processes, improve digital systems and reduce unnecessary admin so colleagues can spend more time supporting patients. We will focus our resources on what makes the biggest difference to care and outcomes, while improving efficiency, sustainability and how we use data to make decisions.
How we will measure success in five years:
- Continue to be financially sustainable, with efficient services
- Spend more of our time and resources on patient care
- Significant progress towards achieving net zero by 2040, giving back to our communities and working with socially responsible suppliers
People are supported to recover, stay well and live well in their communities.
We will work more closely with partners to provide joined-up, community-based support that helps people earlier. This includes improving prevention, supporting people after discharge, and making sure care is organised around the whole person - not just their condition.
How we will measure success in five years:
- Ward beds are available and people can access one quickly and safely.
- More people get help earlier, with fewer crises and avoidable admissions.
- Fewer people already known to our services needing emergency department care because they are receiving the right support earlier.
How we will deliver this strategy
We will deliver this strategy through our Doing well together Improvement Programme. This programme turns strategic ambitions and plans into action and ensures improvements happen in practice, not just on paper. Directorates and corporate and support teams will develop aligned annual plans and measurable improvement goals linked to the 5 True North ambitions.
This approach creates clarity, focus and shared accountability across the trust, from Board to frontline teams.
How we will measure progress
We will measure progress through a set of Year 1 breakthrough objectives, focusing on the changes that move us closest to our True North ambitions.
These will be supported by a wider set of measures covering quality, performance, workforce and finance. Progress will be reviewed regularly through our governance structures and reported publicly through the Board, ensuring transparency, accountability and continuous learning.
