Health chiefs have been urged a new Canterbury hospital needs to be an option when plans for east Kent are presented next year.

Bosses from the NHS in the area were grilled by residents during a public meeting held in the city on Saturday morning.

Hosted by campaigners from Concern for Health in East Kent (CHEK), issues included the shocking performance of the hospitals in the area, calls to return services to the Kent & Canterbury Hospital (K&C) and moves for a medical school in Canterbury.

East Kent has the worst emergency accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times in the country.

The meeting at the city's Northgate Community Centre was filled with concerned patients, current and former staff.

It was also represented by three of the area's MPs. Helen Whately (Faversham and Mid Kent) and Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet) attended in person.

Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, who could not attend in person, sent an aide from her office to quiz chiefs from the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) and Canterbury and Coastal CCG (clincal commissioning group).

The meeting, which had around 100 members of the public present, was told plans being drawn up for the future make up of hospitals in east Kent are due to be announced in the spring.

Ms Whateley said proposals for a new Canterbury hospital with an A&E department - which was removed from the K&C in 2004 - had to appear on the consultation put to the public in 2018.

"A hospital should be at Canterbury with an A&E service. I recognise in a consultation that would not be the only option," she said.

"I want to see that as an option. We need that on the table."

It drew a big round of applause from the audience.

A presentation by CHEK flagged the statistics of east Kent hospitals having the worst emergency waiting times in the country.

Jenny Cole, the group's membership secretary led the speech, pointing out the trust had last hit a target in 2014 and saying they feared the changes were leading to an end of the Kent & Canterbury "as we know it".

She said: "We are right at the bottom of the pile. It's absolutely disgusting.

"For cancer care we are down the list. It's not fair.

"Our vision is for a new medical school and along with that a new hospital."

Simon Perks, the accountable officer for the Canterbury and Coastal CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group) said healthcare in east Kent could not stay the same.

"We need to deliver lasting change. We've got a service at a point where it cannot stay as we are.

"We can't flog the same model."

There is an offer on the table for developer Quinn Estates to build the shell of a hospital.

But the NHS said this would need vast amounts of public funding to equip it.

Liz Shutler, a board director at EKHUFT, said: "Until we get to the point where we go out to consult and know the options available to us we're not in a position to change and invest in the site, we're going to be in a difficult situation."

For full coverage of the meeting see Thursday's Kentish Gazette.