Tracey Fletcher, the Chief Executive of East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, has resigned following her 4-year leadership role.
Ms Fletcher had served as Chief Executive at Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust from 2013 until April 2022 when she joined East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.
Sources suggest that at the end of 2025, Ms Fletcher was formally suspended following a performance review with Annette Doherty, the Trust’s Chair at the time. Ms Fletcher lodged a formal grievance, and a report looking into the matter concluded that Ms Doherty had “exceeded her authority” when suspending Ms Fletcher. There was also a separate independent review which found no evidence of misconduct on Ms Fletcher’s part, following which the suspension was lifted. Ms Doherty subsequently quit her role at the end of April 2026. Dr Olu Olasode now acts as the Trust’s current interim chairman.
Despite the suspension having been lifted, Ms Fletcher’s resignation followed shortly afterwards at the end of May 2026.
Dr Olasode comments that the Trust has made significant progress under Ms Fletcher’s leadership, including:
• Upgrading the maternity service from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission
• Securing a large investment programme to improve the Trust’s buildings, facilities and equipment
• Securing a £29 million investment to improve same day emergency care services at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, and access to emergency care at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.
In the meantime, Dr Des Holden acts as the Trust’s acting chief executive until there is a permanent replacement.
The continuing pressures on the Trust are of no surprise, having been under NHS England’s intervention for a prolonged period of time and the ongoing implementation of the 2022 Kirkup report recommendations which heavily scrutinised failures within their maternity services. Indeed, the Trust is the largest in Kent, serving approximately 700,000 patients and running 5 hospitals.
It remains to be seen whether a strong and robust leadership team can be assembled in the future to provide the Trust with much-needed effective development and positive change.