Medway Hospital could lose almost 15% of its workforce under NHS plan
Why Medway Hospital could lose almost one in seven roles, plus Sikh stories, 2,500 EV chargers and a very small brewery
Medway Maritime Hospital could lose almost 15% of its workforce under draft NHS plans that assume more patients can be cared for by GPs, community services, and at home. We look at the proposed loss of 861 full-time equivalent roles, the £143.8m savings target behind it and the rather important question of whether Medway has enough services outside the hospital to make any of this work. Elsewhere, recording Medway’s Sikh history proves unexpectedly difficult, Local Plan hearings begin, thousands of EV chargers are proposed, and Rochester could be getting a nanobrewery.
Medway Hospital could lose almost 15% of its workforce under NHS plan
Hundreds of posts could be lost from Medway Maritime Hospital under a draft plan to reduce its workforce by almost 15%
The changes could see Medway NHS Foundation Trust remove 861 full-time equivalent roles by 2030/31.
The scale of the proposed reduction was first reported by Alison Moore in the Health Service Journal.
Full-time equivalent roles measure the workforce by hours worked rather than individual employees. For example, two people working half-time would count as one full-time equivalent role.
As a result, there is no suggestion that 861 people could be made redundant. Jobs could also disappear as people leave, vacancies remain unfilled, or work transitions to other parts of the NHS.
The draft plan does not say which services or staff groups could be affected.
The reduction forms part of a five year plan that would require the trust to cut £143.8m from its annual running costs by 2030/31. This is more than a quarter of its current costs.
Nothing has been finalised, but the direction of travel appears clear. Less money and fewer staff at the hospital, with more patients treated at home or through GPs, neighbourhood teams and community services.
'Care closer to home' is an appealing phrase, but it also requires enough care closer to home.
Medway Hospital board papers suggest that it is some way from being guaranteed.
Patients who are medically ready to leave hospital are often stuck in beds because there is not enough support, social care or rehabilitation in the community.
The trust asserts that limited community capacity remains one of the main barriers to discharging patients. For some groups, it said there was still no solution across the wider NHS and care system.
Those shortages feed back into the hospital as beds remain occupied, new patients cannot be moved to appropriate wards, and pressure builds in A&E.
During the 90 days covered in the latest hospital board report, an average of 28 patients each day received care in corridors or unsuitable areas.
At the same time, demand continues to rise, with A&E seeing a 9% increase in attendance in July compared with the previous year.
The trust's concern is simple. If hospital staff and funding are removed before replacement services are available, patients still need care in hospital.
They point to comparatively low levels of community healthcare in Medway and Swale, alongside ongoing issues in recruiting enough GPs.
NHS Kent and Medway, the organisation behind the plan, acknowledges the difficulty in rapidly expanding community services.
It has identified £50m that could be used for additional community services in 2027/28, but proposed holding back nearly £20m because spending the full amount in one year would be too difficult.
Still, £31m could be available for community investment across Kent, but the strategy does not set out how much would be for Medway and Swale, or what it could potentially pay for.
Against that uncertain expansion, there is a much firmer assumption that almost 15% of Medway's workforce can go.
Medway has been given the largest savings target of any hospital provider in Kent.
It starts from a particularly poor financial position. The trust had a deficit of £74.6m in 2025/26, roughly 13.5% of its income.
Even with the proposed workforce reduction and other savings, balancing the books still remains challenging.
Under the most optimistic version of the plan, Medway would reach financial stability in 2030/31. Under a more modest scenario, it would still carry a deficit of £61.7m.
The trust describes its existing deficit, reduced financial support and proposed workforce reduction as a 'disproportionate risk.'
The proposals for Medway sit within efforts to deal with a similar problem across the wider NHS Kent and Medway network.
Organisations are being asked to find nearly £900m in savings over five years. The area had the largest NHS deficit in England during 2025/26, ending £190.2m in the red.
Questions also remain about how transparent this process has been.
Medway Council's health scrutiny committee considered the NHS commissioning plans in August. Councillors were told about the ambition to move care from hospitals into community services and invited to comment.
They were not shown the number of hospital posts that could disappear along the way. The financial implications were described more generally as moving money away from hospitals to community care and sharing financial risks.
Councillors asked for more time to consider the proposals, and requested another session once plans had been finalised.
Jonathan Wilson, chief finance officer at NHS Kent and Medway, said the figures remained draft assumptions which were still subject to discussion, analysis and approval.
He said, “Our focus is on improving care for patients by investing more in prevention, primary care, community services, and mental health support, helping people get the care they need closer to home whenever it is safe and appropriate and in line with national requirements.”
Rob Clarke, interim chief finance officer at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said it was working with other organisations to refine the plan. Its current assumptions included a possible efficiency requirement of about 5% each year.
Those statements leave the central question unanswered. The plan assumes the hospital can lose almost one in seven full-time equivalent posts while services outside it expand quickly enough to take the pressure.
The coming years will establish just how optimistic that is.
Catch Up
This week involved a new political party, a debut novelist and a familiar attempt to work out whether Gillingham are brilliant or terrible.
Andrew Lawrence left the Conservatives on Monday and is already trying to build something of his own. Medway First has a constitution, branding and ambitions to stand candidates across Medway next May. What it does not yet have is registration, other councillors, or much time.
Ed Jennings
Fiona Goggin has taken a rather longer route to where she is now. The Medway library assistant has published her debut Victorian Gothic novel, The Silver Bones of Frances Winter, after winning a place on a Curtis Brown writing course. Steven spoke to her about body snatching, repression, returning to Medway and what it feels like to walk into a bookshop and find your own novel on the shelf.
Steven Keevil
And then there are Gillingham, who have spent the opening weeks of the season looking incredible, terrible and, occasionally, absolutely fine. Ben Hopkins tries to make sense of it all, from heavy defeats and frustrating draws to an emphatic win at Rochdale and the dangerous temptation to draw conclusions from any of it in September.
Ben Hopkins
Medway’s Sikh history proves difficult to record
Immersive storyteller Adipat Virdi set out to map the history and cultural contribution of Medway’s Sikh community. After speaking to almost 50 people, he ran into a fundamental problem.
“Most were eager to share their stories, but almost none were happy to have them recorded,” he said.
The £8,000 project was originally intended to preserve oral histories through digital storytelling and an interactive map. It has now also produced Sangat: We Are, Other, a participatory performance built around the experiences of Sikh families in Medway.
Rather than simply watching, the audience will hear recorded accounts, share their own stories of Medway and help create an artefact together. Virdi describes it as an “immersive documentary”, presenting stories about “people who happen to be Sikh, but are Medway residents, born and brought up in the area.”
“The whole point is that we’re all residents, we’re all human beings,” he said. “Anyone can come along, as long as they come with an open mind and are happy to participate.”
Sangat: We Are, Other takes place at Medway Little Theatre in Rochester tomorrow, Saturday 12 September, from 3pm to 5pm. It is free, with advance booking preferred.
In brief
📍 Our sister title, the Kent Current, has a full story of the unravelling of Kent's local government reorganisation.
🗄️ Public hearings on Medway's new Local Plan begin next week.
⚡ Medway is set to get nearly 2,500 on-street electric vehicle chargers over the next 15 years.
🗳️ MPs voted against proceeding with Lauren Edwards' assisted dying bill, 286 to 270, today.
🏗️ Construction has started on a new SEN school on Cornwallis Avenue in Gillingham.
🚔 Kent Police will run live facial recognition technology in Chatham today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) if you'd rather avoid it.
Madness have been announced as the first act for next year's Rochester Castle Live.
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- Thursday: Employment Matters Committee will discuss the latest gender pay gap, workforce report, and more.
New planning applications:
- Conversion of former Raj of India restaurant on Rochester High Street into nanobrewery and taproom.
- Outdoor seating area for McDonald's at Chatham Dockside.
- Conversion of upper floor of former Barclays in Chatham High Street into five flats.
- HMO on Montfort Road in Strood.
Property of the week
The Saddlery in Rainham looks like someone has converted an old barn into a very expensive house. Apparently not. This four-bedroom property in the Rainham Conservation Area is merely 'barn style', although with its timber exterior, vaulted spaces and general commitment to looking considerably older than it is, the distinction feels increasingly academic. For £650,000 to £700,000, you get a huge open-plan living area, three bathrooms, an office, a double garage, and a wraparound garden, plus a substantial summerhouse for anyone needing somewhere separate to recover from all that open-plan living. The little development even has its own pond, although maintaining the communal niceties will cost you another £60 a month. It is essentially all the aesthetic benefits of owning a barn without having to discover what 200 years of agricultural use has done to the foundations.
Events this week
🛍️ Sat 12 Sep - Art Flea Fair // Indoor market of art, craft, handmade, and vintage finds. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
💬 Sat 12 Sep - Sangat: We are, Other // Adipat Virdi presents an immersive workshop exploring Sikh stories of identity, heritage and belonging in Medway. Medway Little Theatre, Rochester. Free.
🎸 Sat 12 Sep - The Would-Be-Goods + Railcard // Double bill of indiepop bands. Oast Community Centre, Rainham. Tickets £10.
🖼️ 17 - 30 Sep - Simon Mills: In Your Face // Exhibition of portraits by local artist. Halpern Gallery, Chatham. Free.
