CQC rates Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust following a Well-Led inspection in March 2026

The CQC found that the trust needs to make further improvements to its governance, assurance and risk management, as well as addressing challenges in its organisational culture. This includes strengthening psychological safety and support for leaders and managers, and making sure patients, families and loved ones are more consistently involved in their care and in improving services. 

The trust accepts these findings and its subsequent Requires Improvement rating and recognises that it was not where it needed to be in some important areas.

The report also recognises important strengths across the trust. It highlights strong partnership working, research, innovation and improvement, and recognises that trust leaders understand the challenges facing the organisation and have already begun work to address them.

Many of the issues identified by the CQC had also been identified through independent reviews commissioned by the trust before the inspection, and improvement work was already underway.

In the seven months since the inspection, the trust has continued to make the improvements required through its Governance Improvement Plan and Quality Improvement Plan, alongside work through its Doing Well Together strategy to improve culture, leadership and staff and patient experience.

This includes strengthening governance and oversight of performance, quality and risk; improving risk assessment, care planning, physical health checks and community service waiting times; and work to create a culture where colleagues feel safe to speak up and patients and staff are listened to and involved.

Sheila Stenson, Chief Executive, said: “We recognise the CQC findings and the seriousness of the issues identified, particularly around governance, assurance and culture. I accept that there were areas where our performance and the experience of those who use our services were not where they needed to be. We are sorry for that. We have listened carefully to the feedback, reflected honestly on what needs to change, and are committed to making those improvements at pace.

“Since I started as Chief Executive, I wanted to really understand where we are doing well and where we needed to improve. I commissioned independent reviews because I wanted a clear and honest picture. Those reviews identified some significant issues, and we have been open about them with our staff, the public, Board and partners and we started acting on them.

“A lot has improved since the CQC visited us in March; progress has been made. But I’m not complacent and know there is more to do to strengthen our culture, so colleagues feel safe and supported to speak up, and to ensure patients, families and loved ones are more consistently involved in their care and in how we improve services. What matters now is making sure those improvements are embedded and are felt consistently by our patients, families and colleagues.

“The CQC report recognises that we understand our challenges, that we’re making progress and that there are many strengths across our trust, from excellent partnership working to strong innovation and research. That gives me confidence that we know what needs to change and that we are moving in the right direction.”

The rating follows the 2026 Well-Led inspection carried out in March 2026, as well as CQC inspections of inpatient and community services in 2025. Warning notices issued then were lifted after significant improvements were made by the trust and recognised by the CQC.

The trust will continue to work with patients, carers, families, colleagues, partners and regulators as it delivers its improvement plans and strategy over the coming months.