Campaigners fighting for a state-of-the-art hospital in Canterbury want the new health secretary to help secure the deal.

Leaders at Concern for Health in East Kent (Chek) have invited Matt Hancock to the city in a bid to ensure a “golden opportunity” is not missed.

Developer Mark Quinn has offered to fund the shell of a new hospital - at cost of more than £100 million - in return for planning permission for 2,000 homes on surrounding land.

But the NHS will have to find the £250 million to equip the new facility, which will be built on a site next to the K&C.

Health bosses announced they were officially considering the proposal just days after Chek members met with Mr Hancock’s predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, in November.

It is one of two options on the table as part of a wider project to overhaul healthcare services in Kent and Medway - known as the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).

The other is the conversion of the William Harvey in Ashford into a ‘super hospital’ hosting all specialist services, which would see the K&C significantly downgraded.

But a public consultation on the preferred option - which has been significantly delayed - is not expected to start until early next year.

Chek chairman Ken Rogers says the offer of a new hospital in Canterbury is one that cannot be missed.

“We have a golden opportunity here and one that will not be around for long,” he said.

“Why it has not been accepted since it was offered over 12 months ago is unacceptable. Canterbury is the best place to host acute hospital services as it is most central to east Kent.

“We are now told that a full consultation on acute hospital services will not take place until early 2019, which makes a decision not likely until the end of the year.

“The consultation should be focused on the best place geographically for these services, and Chek is adamant that has not changed in the last 20 years, and should be in the centre of east Kent at the K&C.”

“We want to keep the pressure on and have invited Matt Hancock down to see for himself what the problems are.”

Last year cardiac and stroke services were transferred out of the K&C and to the William Harvey.

A consultation has now taken place on the location of three new hyper-acute stroke units in Kent, with the William Harvey included in all five options on the table, and the K&C in none of them.

Mr Rogers says Canterbury should host stroke services regardless of the future of the hospital.

“The NHS is in danger of investing money in propping up services instead of looking at the bigger picture and taking the decisions now, which will benefit patients now,” he said.

“One of those services is the new stroke service. The stroke unit for east Kent is seen as the William Harvey, and not the K&C, or indeed the QEQM.

“That’s because they were not included in the consultation.

“Should the acute services be located at the K&C then we are told that a new consultation would be carried out to move the stroke services from the William Harvey to the K&C.

“This is a ridiculous waste of money.

“The new HASU stroke services should be at the K&C whatever happens, and plans should be made to put it there now, then the patients of east Kent could look forward to a centrally located service that surely must be of benefit to patient outcomes.”