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About us
NHS South East Coast is the regional headquarters of the NHS in Kent, Surrey & Sussex. We manage a £6 billion service that includes hospitals, primary care, mental health and specialist services and one ambulance service.
We work in partnership with regional and local organisations, particularly the Government Office for the South East and the local government to ensure the 4.2 million residents of the South East Coast have access to the right care and treatment when they need it.
We were established on 1 July 2006 as one of 10 Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) in England.
Information about the NHS organisations across the region and their contact details can be found in the Local NHS section of this website.
The role of NHS South East Coast is to:
- Provide strategic leadership to the NHS in the South East
- Ensure the appropriate development of local NHS organisations and their workforce
- Ensure the effective delivery of, and improvement in, NHS services
To do this we work with our primary care trusts, our acute and specialist trusts and with the Government Office for the South East.
We also hold primary care trusts to account for their performance.
NHS South East Coast is answerable to the Department of Health for ensuring our local health systems work well and adhere to Government policy.
We are also the lead organisation for the NHS European Office with the NHS Confederation and Candy Morris is the lead strategic health authority chief executive for Europe.
The NHS European Office informs NHS organisations of key EU developments and promotes the priorities and interests of the NHS to the European Institutions. Based in Brussels and London, it is funded by the 10 Strategic Health Authorities and is part of the NHS Confederation.