New hospital must be built in city

It is good to see that two local MPS, Rosie Duffield and Helen Whately, are highlighting the need for a new hospital in Canterbury. Certainly recent events have made it clear that there has to be radical change in how hospital services are organised in east Kent.

It is now three years since the local Nhs/social Care Partnership published its proposals for a new all-purpose acute hospital in east Kent. For the last year, however, they seem to have disappeared into a black hole. That is why a number of us have decided to set up a group dedicated to providing accurate information to the public

We make no bones about it: we believe that East Kent needs a single main hospital providing all the acute services; and that it should be located in Canterbury.

We don’t want the other two hospitals though, in Ashford and Margate, to be reduced to shadows of their former selves. 87% of all visits to hospital are for non-acute conditions, and of course it is right for local people in those areas

■ Following on from the tragic circumstances at the QEQM maternity unit, the best option, in our view, must be to centralise most hospital services at a new, up-to-date facility in Canterbury including a major A&E department and maternity unit.

Pamela & Richard Margrie Tanners Street, Faversham