The chairman of Medway NHS Foundation Trust has stepped down from her post less than two years after taking the job.

Shena Winning, pictured here, took on the role in September 2014, when the trust has been criticised for its poor health services in a CQC report.

On Friday , bosses at the trust which manages Medway Maritime Hospital, in Gillingham, announced Ms Winning was stepping down.

She said: “Having been chair of the trust through some of its most challenging times, I feel that I have taken my work at Medway as far as I can.

“When I took over as chair of the trust in September 2014 it was in a very difficult position, as the CQC visit last August confirmed.

“Having dedicated my time to the welfare of our patients, the relationship with our community and stakeholders and having identified and secured the services of a new chief executive, I believe that now is the time to refresh the continuing recovery with a new chair.

“It has been a difficult time for the trust, but staff are pulling together and things have improved significantly.

“It is a tribute to the trust’s staff and volunteers that we have been able to make such progress. I am confident that things will only continue to improve and that the people of Medway will have the health services that they are entitled to expect.”

Chief executive, Lesley Dwyer added: “I want to pay tribute to Shena’s significant achievement as chair of the trust.

“With her determination to ensure the delivery of a quality service to the patients and the local community, she has seen us through a stormy period and we are grateful to her and thank her for her total commitment.”

The trust serves a population of more than 400,000 in Medway and Swale and receives more than 105,000 A&E visits, delivers almost 5,000 babies and undertakes 30,000 operations each year.