HEALTH bosses have denied they are out to stop campaigners speaking out over potentially controversial changes in NHS services across Kent.

The accusation of a cover up has come from a campaign group after an internal briefing document produced by the newly-created South East Coast Strategic Health Authority appeared to reveal how it is anxious to stop public opposition disrupting plans that could follow from a wide-ranging review of health care.

Campaigners say Kent and Medway NHS chiefs are desperate to avoid a repeat of the huge opposition there has been to health cuts in neighbouring Sussex and Surrey, where mass marches and well-organised campaigns have taken place to try to protect local services after a similar review.

According to Health Emergency, the campaign group, the health authority – the successor body to the Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority - intends to conduct its public consultation over a wide-ranging review of services under the slogan "Creating an NHS Fit for the Future".

Part of the leaked document reads: "It is urgent to complete these [meetings] before the engagement process leads to heavy media coverage or any active campaigning so that it is relevantly [sic] easy to recruit a representative sample of the population who have not been affected by any previous public discourse.Therefore it is intended to hold these events in mid-November."

But the health authority has hit back, saying the claims of an attempted cover up were "false and distorted."

In a statement, the authority said the "Fit for the Future" programme, led by the three new Primary Care Trusts, was about recognising that people’s health needs were changing and needed a different response from the NHS.

Rebecca Sparks, director of the Kent and Medway Fit for the Future project, said: "Modern medicines and treatments mean we can do things differently – often in ways that are more effective as well as more convenient for patients – so we should be adopting these new methods. We also know that people with complex conditions get a better result when they see a specialist who is well-practised in dealing with that particular kind of problem."

The statement added: "The NHS is looking at primary care, community and hospital services and the best arrangements of them to meet the changing health needs. It is absolutely not about cuts – investment in the NHS continues to grow."

The health authority stressed that when firm proposals were made, there would be full public consultation.