Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Campaign group reforms to fight for K&C hospital
Exclusive
A prominent health campaign group is reforming to fight for a new hospital in Canterbury.
Concern for Health in East Kent (CHEK) successfully fought government plans to downgrade the Kent and Canterbury Hospital at the turn of the century and says the threat facing local health services is now so severe it must restart its campaigning.
It fears the city hospital faces being reduced to little more than a cottage hospital as part of proposals to overhaul healthcare across the county.
Securing funding for a new city hospital is top of its agenda, despite east Kent hospitals boss Matthew Kershaw essentially ruling out the idea as the trust works on a restructuring project.
But Ken Rogers, 69, one of the original CHEK founders in 1997, said: “Yes, Matthew Kershaw says there’s no money for it. But the reason we are reforming is to fight for this new hospital and to campaign for the government to find the money to build a new hospital.
“Fifteen years ago we were fighting for a brand new hospi- tal in Canterbury, in the middle of the east Kent health trust’s geographical area.
“We believe that if we had got that new hospital then, we would not have the problems here that we have today.”
In November, the East Kent Hospitals NHS University Foundation Trust published its proposals as part of a far-reaching countywide Sustainability and Transformation Plan.
It dismissed speculation that one of the three hospitals – the K&C, the William Harvey at Ashford and Margate’s QEQM – will close, but admits it needs to remodel their work.
The trust is working on the designations of its three sites.
One hospital would provide all the specialist treatments as well as an A&E and planned care and maternity – potentially Ashford.
The second would also offer an A&E and planned care and maternity. This could be Margate.
The third site, likely to be Canterbury, would focus on inpatient elective surgery, like hip replacements, and rehabilitation with a Gp-led urgent care centre.
All the minor injuries units could also be retained.
But Mr Rogers, who lives in Faversham, fears this would reduce Canterbury to the downgraded service CHEK defeated in the 2000s.
“The only thing we weren’t successful in doing was saving the A&E unit at the Kent and Can- terbury,” he said.
“I suspect that we look like we will end up going back to the reduced hospital site that we fought before. That’s effectively a cottage hospital, which is primary-led, that is Gp-led.
“Basically, it’s the same situation as we were last time around.
“For the new campaign we are trying to find as many friends as possible to become members that have an interest in health, and saving our services in our acute hospitals.”
The reformed CHEK will hold its first committee meeting today (Thursday) and then announce an action plan. Email chek999@ btinternet.com to join or for more information. The group has also set up its own Facebook page.