Worried health chiefs have drafted in a troubleshooter to help hospitals in east Kent through the winter, we can reveal.

NHS England has appointed Dr Anne Rainsberry, who was the regional director of NHS London, to oversee the hospitals run by the East Kent University Hospitals Trust, over the next few months.

The move to bring in an outsider is seen as a sign that there are concerns over the trust’s capacity to cope with increasing numbers of patients during the winter.

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The trust recently appointed Susan Acott as interim chief executive, who headed the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, but only until next March.

In a brief statement, NHS Improvement, the government’s agency to help struggling health trusts, confirmed the appointment, saying: “Drawing on her extensive experience of working with NHS England through previous winters, Dr Anne Rainsberry will help the NHS in East Kent manage the additional demand for services that winter brings and maintain services for local patients in the months ahead.”

Dr Rainsberry recently retired as regional director of NHS London, a post she had been in since 2012.

Her career in the NHS spanned 27 years and she has had a number of senior management jobs at both regional and national level.

The appointment comes just weeks after the trust saw it once again recording the longest waiting times in the country for October – after a small improvement the previous month.

Just 62.6% of patients were seen in under four hours in east Kent hospitals during October.

It is not known how long Dr Rainsberry will work for the trust.

Meanwhile, the newly-appointed director of adult social care and health at Kent County Council Anu Singh has told county councillors the decision to bring in Dr Rainsberry reflected a perception that the “health economy” of east Kent was struggling.

Speaking at a KCC Cabinet meeting this week, she said: “Reputationally, we are suffering at the moment.

"One of the impacts of being a fairly distressed health economy is that NHS England has invested in a winter director to come and help us in East Kent.

“We are not being seen as a powerful and effective health economy. We have to fix the problems plaguing the health system.”