NHS Kent and Medway  is launching Your local NHS: What matters most - a new programme to listen, learn, and shape services together.  

What matters to you when it comes to your health, care, wellbeing, and the future of the NHS?

How can the NHS  provide care within its limited budget?  

Providing best value care is vital, but the NHS can only spend what it's given. We need to use this money in the best way possible. NHS services need to be effective and focused on what matters most for patients. Change is happening in healthcare - both nationally and locally - guided by the NHS 10-year plan, which focuses on three big shifts:  

  • more help and care in the community, not just in hospitals  
  • using technology, like apps and video calls, instead of paper-based forms  
  • helping people stay well, not just treating them when they're sick.  

To make these changes, we need to hear from you - patients, families, staff, and communities - about what's important.

Read below what we've been talking to people about so far.

In the next few weeks we will be asking people what matters most to them about health services over the next five years, keep an eye out here for the next opportunity to let us know your views. 

Commissioning plans and principles

What matters most: Commissioning plans and principles   

What we did

What Matters Most is closely linked to how the NHS plans services and makes decisions about the future of health and care. It is not just about single service changes, but about helping shape priorities and difficult choices over the next three to five years.

Workshops and events are used to:

  • explain the wider picture, including money pressures, in a clear and accessible way
  • hear what people think should be prioritised
  • test how shared principles could be used in real NHS decision‑making

Feedback from earlier engagement was used to create a first set of principles to guide future decisions. These were tested and improved through the first What Matters Most activity, which included an event in Maidstone and an online survey.

 

 

What we heard

From this, key themes emerged:

  • putting people at the centre of care, with services joining up around individuals rather than organisations
  • better access and timeliness, including shorter waits, more local services and fewer practical barriers such as transport
  • clearer, joined‑up communication, with shared records, coordinated care and information that is easy to understand

These principles are now being used to guide medium‑ and long‑term planning and to support clear and open decision‑making when resources are limited. They have been refined following the engagement and are included in the draft Five year strategic plan.

At the event, senior leads from primary care, urgent and emergency care, planned care and mental health, learning disability and autism services took part in group discussions. People raised issues such as improving communication with patient representatives and the need for more stable, longer‑term funding for voluntary and community organisations. This feedback has helped shape the Five-year strategic plan.

Reports

Please find below the report from the 9 December workshop, a report from the online survey, and the revised commissioning principles.

Moving services from hospitals to neighbourhoods

What we did and when  

Through Your local NHS: What Matters Most, we spoke with people and communities across Kent and Medway about moving services from hospitals to neighbourhoods – how care can be better organised closer to home and joined up around people’s needs.  

We held four workshops, in Canterbury, Medway, East Malling and Dartford between 29 January and 18 March 2026. These brought together 175 people residents, patient representatives, voluntary and community organisations, councils,  GPs  and NHS staff to talk about what neighbourhood health should look like and what needs to change.  

At these events, we shared ideas for neighbourhood health and listened to people’s views on what could build trust in services closer to home and which services they would expect to find in a neighbourhood model.  

What we heard  

People strongly support the idea of more care and support in local communities, working together across GPs, community services,  councils  and voluntary organisations.  

They told us:  

  • Services should be  e asier to access and navigate  

  • Communication needs to be clear,  honest  and joined‑up  

  • Local services must work together better, so people do not have to repeat their story  

  • Neighbourhood health needs to reduce inequalities and build trust  

People were positive about the direction of travel but said they want to see these ideas turn into real, visible change in their communities.  

What next  

We will use what people told us to help shape how neighbourhood health develops across Kent and Medway.  

Next, we will:  

  • Use this insight to inform neighbourhood health plans and priorities  

  • To help shape the ‘from hospital to neighbourhood priority of our five-year strategic plan.  

This helps make sure neighbourhood health is built with local people, based on what matters most to them.  

 

Read the full engagement report.

Five year strategic plan

We will be asking people next about their views of our draft five year strategic plan.