TWO hospitals in Kent have been selected to provide specialist life-saving prostate and bladder cancer surgery.

They are the Medway Maritime Hospital at Gillingham and the Maidstone Hospital at Barming.

The selection was made under the NHS National Cancer Plan which calls for particular types of cancer to be dealt with only by specially-selected hospitals. It is felt that by concentrating skills, medical teams can achieve better outcomes for patients.

Between them, Medway Maritime and Maidstone hospitals will provide surgery in around 240 highly specialised cases each year. The selection was made by all nine Primary Care Trusts operating in Kent and Medway.

Professor Roger James, clinical director of the Kent Cancer Network, said: “We would like to put the new arrangements in place by the end of next year. Patients with prostate and bladder cancer will live longer, independent lives as a result of these decisions.”