asking staff to come forward to assess whether their jobs could be abolished<\/a> in a cost-cutting exercise.<\/p>\nIt has now come to light that NHS England (NHSE), which oversees the operations of NHS trusts, downgraded East Kent Hospitals in a new set of \u201cprovider capability ratings\u201d in April, the first trust to be lowered in the country.<\/p>\n
They have been demoted from Amber-Red to Red, the Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported.<\/p>\n
NHSE says that these ratings are changed when there are \u201cincreased concerns\u201d or when \u201cserious situations\u201d arise and downgraded EKH in April<\/p>\n
![\"Tracey](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
![\"Tracey](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/V28R2NNEREC63Z2PEFBN.jpg\")
Tracey Fletcher, the chief executive of East Kent Hospitals, has raised a grievance about the way her suspension was handled<\/p>\n
A red rating indicates \u201csignificant concerns arising from poor delivery, governance and other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trust had already been ordered by NHSE to ensure that a \u201ca strong and stable board and executive leadership team [are] in place\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Fletcher\u2019s departure comes just weeks after the trust\u2019s chairman, Annette Doherty, also stepped down amid mounting scrutiny over the handling of Ms Fletcher\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n
In a statement released today, Ms Fletcher said: \u201cIt has been a privilege to work in my local Trust and with such dedicated staff across the organisation and within the health and care system.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is humbling to experience the commitment given in providing healthcare services to the local population and the dedication in doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Fletcher joined the trust in April 2022 from Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, where she had served as chief executive since 2013.<\/p>\n
![\"Annette](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PVSXKVW07UIHZWP7D1D2.jpg\")
Annette Doherty, chair of the trust, is reported to have given Tracey Fletcher an ultimatum during a mid-year performance review<\/p>\n
Her absence from work first emerged in November last year, when the trust told KentOnline she was taking a period of \u201cunplanned leave\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, it later emerged she had in fact been formally suspended following a performance review meeting with then-chairman Ms Doherty.<\/p>\n
According to the HSJ, Ms Fletcher was allegedly told to accept a settlement package or face suspension.<\/p>\n
She was suspended three days later and subsequently lodged a formal grievance over the process.<\/p>\n
A draft report into the handling of the suspension reportedly found Ms Doherty had \u201cexceeded her authority\u201d and \u201cbadly handled\u201d the situation, while also warning the trust faced a potential litigation risk.<\/p>\n
The suspension was later lifted following a separate independent review into concerns about Ms Fletcher\u2019s conduct, which found no evidence of misconduct.<\/p>\n
![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/42CH3H3YZSCMTUK15VRZ.jpg\")
Dr Olu Olasode is the current interim chairman at the trust. Picture: EKHUFT<\/p>\n
Despite that, she never returned to active duty, with Dr Des Holden continuing as acting chief executive throughout the investigation.<\/p>\n
He will remain in the post until a permanent replacement is appointed.<\/p>\n
The trust\u2019s interim chairman, Dr Olu Olasode, said: \u201cUnder Tracey\u2019s leadership, the Trust has made significant progress in many areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts maternity service has been upgraded from \u2018inadequate\u2019 to \u2018good\u2019 by the Care Quality Commission, and it has secured a large programme of investment to improve its buildings, facilities and equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health campaigner Ken Rogers, who represents the Concern for Health in East Kent (Chek) group, said: \u201cIt is deeply regrettable that Tracey Fletcher has chosen to step down following recent events.<\/p>\n
\u201cTracey has worked tirelessly to improve healthcare across East Kent, and her leadership has been instrumental in driving progress during an exceptionally challenging period for the NHS.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer commitment to patient safety, staff wellbeing, and service improvement has been evident throughout her tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sincerely hope that this episode does not deter the NHS from continuing to draw on her abundant skills and experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe system needs leaders of her calibre – people who combine compassion with competence and who understand the realities of frontline care.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn a personal note, I want to thank Tracey for her contribution to improving healthcare in East Kent and wish her every success in whatever role she chooses next.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a shame that her time with the trust has ended in this way, and I hope lessons will be learned to ensure that such situations are handled with greater fairness and transparency in future.\u201d<\/p>\n
That investment includes a \u00a329 million programme to expand same-day emergency care services at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.<\/p>\n
The leadership upheaval comes during a period of sustained pressure for the trust, which runs the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, William Harvey Hospital and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital.<\/p>\n
Last month, Health Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed the trust had been placed into a new national NHS \u201cintensive recovery\u201d programme for struggling hospital organisations facing long waits, financial pressures and high leadership churn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chief executive of one of the country\u2019s most under-pressure hospital trusts has left her role following months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[1671,1083,1086,1087,1537,1088,96,1089,529,20109,309,20108,1118,1084,5,6],"class_list":["post-45866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-ashford","tag-canterbury","tag-deal","tag-dover","tag-faversham","tag-folkestone","tag-health","tag-herne-bay","tag-human-interest","tag-hythe","tag-kent","tag-sandwich","tag-syndicate","tag-thanet","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116619297586336717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/NRY5VKG2H68NLIAB8BUN.jpg\")
William Harvey Hospital is one of the hospitals managed by the trust<\/p>\n