by political editor Paul Francis

There are no plans to scrap a patient watchdog service that critics say duplicates services run by the NHS.

However, Kent County Council has said the budget for its HealthWatch service will be reduced next year.

The service, launched a year ago, was set up in the wake of various health scandals as a way of allowing patients or relatives to flag up any concerns they had about their treatment.

But critics have denounced the initiative as a waste of money.

But Cllr Alan Marsh (Con), the KCC cabinet member responsible for HealthWatch, said the scheme would continue next year. He also fired a broadside at hospitals and other parts of the NHS in the county, saying they had not embraced the initiative or tried to help KCC promote it because they feared it would lead to more complaints.

Cllr Marsh said: "I am going to provide a better service with less money. It will still be a full-blooded service.

"The first year has been a learning curve and we did not know what we could do. It will be very much more pro-active than it has been and will carry on as a round-the-clock operation."

He said alternative patient helplines run by hospital trusts and primary care trusts were not as effective. "You try ringing the west Kent helpline at 3am on Christmas morning and see what answer you get," he added.

The NHS still perceived the scheme as a threat, he added. "I think it is fair to say that they fear it but they have no reason to do so, unless they are delivering a poor service and if they are, then people will speak out about it."

The initiative was launched on the back of the publication of damning reports into two outbreaks of Clostridium difficile at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.

To date, some 500 people have used the 24-hour service to call in with concerns or queries about their treatment.