Seriously ill and critically injured patients could be forced to travel further if proposals to have just one A&E department in east Kent get the go-ahead.

A report before hospital directors reveals a proposal to house high-risk and emergency services on just one site - putting the A&E departments at Ashford and Margate at risk of closure.

The idea is just one being considered by the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust as it faces an £8 million black hole in its finances.

The trust, which runs the William Harvey Hospital, the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and Margate’s QEQM Hospital, is due to start a public consultation into the restructuring as early as September.

Although the trust has not given any indication as to where east Kent’s single A&E department would be located, the reshuffle could see the William Harvey losing its A&E and the Kent and Canterbury becoming the central point for accident and emergency due to its central location.

Canterbury is thought to be the most likely choice due to its central location and talk of the trust eyeing up farmland south of the Old Gate Inn in New Dover Road for a new hospital.

But the trust could decide to keep one of the existing A&E departments, in either Ashford or Margate, meaning patients who live in either of these towns would have to travel more than 30 miles to reach an A&E department.

The other hospitals within the trust would most likely become urgent care centres.

"It would create huge problems in terms of ambulance response times and patient safety..." - Simon Bolton, Unison

Unison, the UK’s second largest union which acts for 1.3 million mostly public sector workers, has denounced the idea.

Simon Bolton, its regional organiser for health in Kent, said: "We would oppose it. East Kent needs both A&Es, not just one, and we think people in east Kent will be amazed to learn they’re even proposing it.

"Given the geography, it would create huge problems in terms of ambulance response times and patient safety. It would be a disaster waiting to happen. It’s a mad plan and it’s never going to work in a million years."

David Shortt, one of the founding members of the campaign group Concern for Healthcare in East Kent, is also not persuaded by the proposal.

He said: “The trust has been well run for the last decade and this looks like a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

“We have always argued for there being three emergency facilities and 12 to 14 years ago when they were talking about just retaining the emergency sites at Ashford and Thanet, we raised the issue of people from Canterbury having to travel there for treatment.

“Now it will be the people of Thanet and Ashford talking about having to travel to Canterbury.

“This idea is really at an embryonic stage right now, but much will probably depend on what direction the next government decides to take with health.”

The trust started considering a move to a single emergency hospital in January last year.

The report before directors states: “These changes are needed to address the significant workforce, quality and financial challenges facing the trust currently which are expected to worsen unless service reconfiguration takes place.”

Rachel Jones, the trust’s director of strategy and business development, added: “We are currently engaging staff and with external partners, including the public, in developing a five- to 10-year clinical strategy.

“We are considering a number of options to establish their clinical and financial viability, including a high risk and emergency hospital supported by base hospitals.

“No final decision has been made and we expect to clarify the options and undertake a public consultation later this year.”

Last year the trust admitted that its 75-year-old buildings at the K&C needed “significant investment and ongoing maintenance” and that the trust “remains interested and engaged in the opportunities that could emerge from the Canterbury Local Plan and contributing to the wider possible benefits that could emerge”.