Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Health chiefs refuse to say why trust boss left
Shock departure still a mystery as A&E crisis deepens
Health bosses are refusing to confirm if the east Kent trust’s former chief executive left voluntarily.
Matthew Kershaw’s sudden resignation two weeks ago sparked speculation he had been forced out after the trust recorded the worst A&E waiting times in the country.
But when questioned by this paper, the trust said yesterday (Wed) it would “not elaborate” on whether Mr Kershaw had been told he had no future in the post before his shock departure to join a health think tank.
It comes as the A&E crisis deepened this week, with emergency departments in east Kent reportedly at breaking point.
At the QEQM in Margate at the weekend just two doctors were on duty as 84 patients queued to be seen, with some facing waits of up to 13 hours.
Similar scenes were reported at the William Harvey in Ashford.
Mr Kershaw’s primary task had been the reconfiguration of hospital services across east Kent as part of a controversial Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).
His departure comes midway through the process, which has so far involved the “temporary” transfer of emergency services away from the K&C to the other sites, with a set of proposals to be announced next year.
Trust spokesman Steve James said: “East Kent hospitals and its partners are still developing the plans and proposals for this formal consultation and that process is continuing as planned.
“Formal public consultation about the STP will take place early next year, and no decisions about health services will be made until after that period.”
Liz Shutler is the acting chief executive of the trust, which says it will be looking for an interim chief executive before finding a permanent replacement for Mr Kershaw.
It says it is working towards improving conditions in its emergency units.
Ms Shutler said: “Patients attending the emergency departments are assessed soon after arriving and critically ill patients are prioritised and treated quickly.
“However, this means that people attending with non-life threatening illnesses and injuries can wait for a long time and this is not the standard we want for any of our patients.
“We are carefully monitoring our services to ensure that patients are receiving safe standards of care.
“A wide range of doctors, nurses, therapists and other clinical staff make up the teams in our emergency departments and are working extremely hard to care for patients but it is challenging as we are still covering vacant posts with temporary staff.”
Campaign group Concern for Health in East Kent (Chek) welcomed Mr Kershaw’s departure.
Chairman Ken Rogers said: “Matthew Kershaw clearly had one goal in mind, to save money at any cost and the downgrading of two of our hospitals was his way of doing it.
“He should have put the patients of east Kent first and stood up to the powers that be and demanded the resources to achieve a health care fit for purpose.”
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