HEALTH chiefs have promised to keep patients and the public at the heart of discussions on proposals they say will save and improve key services.

A three-month consultation has started on proposals for women and children's services. Two months of discussions around future orthopaedic trauma and elective orthopaedic services in Mid and West Kent has also begun.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust chief executive Rose Gibb, said: "We will be consulting with our patients and the public exhaustively over the coming months and will take every comment into account.

"We want to involve the widest possible audience in the debate and help people understand why the proposals we are making are vitally needed to ensure their health services are safeguarded instead of shut down."

Steve Ford, chief executive of South West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT) said the discussion would be far reaching. He said: "We will be holding displays in shopping centres, talking to user groups, learning from what our patients tell us of their own experiences and trying to involve the public as much as possible.

"We also want people to ask us to come along to their residents' meetings, to talk to their mother and toddler groups and discuss our long term plans with their clubs and societies."

A telephone number, 01892 824278, is now open for people wanting to order copies of the consultation and discussion documents and to arrange presentations.

A e-mail address, mtw.shapingyourlocalhealthservices@nhs.net, is also available for anyone wanting to comment on the proposed changes.

Residents can also write to Shaping Your Local Health Services, FREEPOST NAT17963, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3BR.

Both discussion and consultation documents are also available to view on the Kent and Medway NHS website at www. kentandmedway.nhs.uk

Nigel Howells, chief executive of Maidstone Weald PCT, said: "The improvements that need to be made will change the way our services are provided in the area.

"Change is never easy to accept and we want a full and open debate to look at all the options and answers with the public."

Fiona Henniker, chief executive of Sussex Downs and Weald PCT, added: "This discussion is not a foregone conclusion. Yes we are consulting on proposals and discussing some others, but if real alternatives emerge from this debate that we have missed that enable us to safeguard and improve these services in some other way for patients we will take them on board."