PLANS for a new £225million privately-funded hospital in Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells, could be derailed by the killer bug crisis that west Kent trust bosses are grappling with, a Kent MP fears.

Greg Clark (Con), MP for Tunbridge Wells, said he was concerned the pressure on the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust to improve hygiene conditions could plunge it into financial problems.

The Government will only agree to to the new hospital being built under the Private Finance Initiative if the trust manages to balance its books and break even this year.

Mr Clark said: "One of the critical issues is the need for a new hospital in Tunbridge Wells and the west Kent area. It is very clear from the Healthcare Commission’s report that the existing hospital is out of date."

He added: "We are in a critical period for the Private Finance Initiative - financial close needs to happen in six months. I am particularly concerned if the [Healthcare Commission] report was instrumental in slowing down or jeopardising its replacement. The PFI deal is contingent on the trust breaking even and that is not going to be possible because of extra measures to improve infection control. It is critically important that annual finance targets do not jeapordise the future health care in west Kent."

The MP was invited to speak at a KCC cabinet meeting on Monday in the wake of the publication of damning Healthcare Commission report, which said as many as 90 patients had died as a result of outbreaks of the C-diff bug.

Steve Phoenix, chairman of the West Kent Primary Care Trust, insisted the Pembury hospital plan would go ahead.

He said: "The reconfiguration of services is about creating two complementary hospitals...these proposals remain part of the solution, not part of the problem."

Kent Conservative MPs are due to highlight their concerns about the impact of the report’s findings in a meeting with health secretary Alan Johnston today.