Faversham's outpatient services will move to Whitstable at the end of the month.

After a long battle to stop the move, health bosses announced last July that patients will have to travel to Whitstable for treatment.

The notion is about to become a reality, as Estuary View Medical Centre opens its doors as the outpatient ‘hub’ for the north Kent coast on Monday, January 26.

When the decision was made, Faversham MP Hugh Robertson, chairman of the Friends of the Cottage Hospital David Simmons, long-term health campaigner Ken Rogers and a former doctor of Faversham Health Centre Paul Dawson-Bowling all condemned the move.

Estuary View will become a ‘one-stop shop’ for outpatient services and will see the demise of Faversham and Herne Bay, despite huge public opposition.

"We are delighted to be opening the excellent new outpatient facilities at Estuary View, which will provide patients with a wider range of outpatient services on one site..." - Mary Tunbridge

Work has now been completed on the centre, which health officials say will offer more than 20,000 patients a “wider range of outpatient services, with a full range of diagnostics”.

Mary Tunbridge, from the East Kent Hospitals Trust, said: “We are delighted to be opening the excellent new outpatient facilities at Estuary View, which will provide patients with a wider range of outpatient services on one site.

“The services will also be supported by a full range of diagnostics, including MRI scans. We will be offering patients appointments both earlier and later in the day and also on a Saturday morning.”

NHS Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) endorsed these changes at a public meeting in July following the trust’s public consultation.

Simon Perks, from the CCG, said: “The proposals match our own vision of delivering high quality care as close to home as possible, while making sure we are innovative in how we use our resources.”

The new outpatient clinics will include paediatrics, rheumatology, endocrinology (diabetes), gastroenterology, health care of older people, ophthalmology, general surgery, respiratory, vascular, trauma and orthopaedics, and gynaecology (which will move later but not immediately).