When Shena Winning took over as chairman of the NHS trust that runs Medway hospital, she knew she had a tough job ahead.

The hospital was - and still is - in special measures, there were regular inspections by the NHS watchdog and waiting times at accident and emergency were among the worst in the country.

Giving her first interview to the Medway Messenger this week, Mrs Winning admitted the trust was “very demonstrably” in a challenging situation when she arrived in September but added: “I knew I could make a difference.

“When you have done a number of roles where you are involved in turnaround you know what it looks like but this is certainly a challenge.
“There will always have to be a Medway hospital and I see no reason why there shouldn’t be. I don’t see the disaster that everyone else has seen.

“I think it is a perfectly reasonable task to turn this into a well-run organisation. It is just going to take a while and most of it is around managing it properly.”

In the last few months, the hospital has replaced most of its senior staff – appointing a new chief nurse, chief operating officer and finance director.

Mrs Winning said: “We have put in a new team of senior managers. They are probably slightly more experienced than you would usually get for a trust like this but because there is such a large task to be undertaken, we have some pretty experienced individuals coming in.”

The buddying scheme with Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has worked, she believes, adding the Midlands' team was "superbly run".

Staffing, however, remains a huge issue, and she admits, the "nursing pool is particularly depleted".

But she is optimistic for the future. We need to turn Medway back into a place where people are proud to work and make it a hospital where people are proud to work and proud to come to,” she added.