An NHS leader says the county needs £460 million to transform health care in east Kent.

Rachel Jones, executive director for strategy at Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said they are seeking to bid for cash from the UK government to radically improve emergency services in east Kent.

She added there was "no plan B" for funding the potential transformation.

Ms Jones said: "We all need to be united in the need to invest in health services in Kent and Medway."

The two options on the table include enhancing hospital services in Ashford and Margate or creating a big emergency hospital in Canterbury.

Under this, the Canterbury proposal includes a "super" hospital, which would see a more modern facility on farmland built next to the ageing Kent and Canterbury Hospital, in Ethelbert Road.

Developers Quinn Estates would build the shell of the hospital for free as part of a wider housing development of 2,000 homes on surrounding land, with the NHS having to find the money to equip it.

The five-storey building would host a major emergency unit for east Kent, with specialist services such as heart and stroke care centralised in the city.

Meanwhile, an alternative option has been proposed to improve and expand existing hospital services at Ashford's William Harvey Hospital and Margate’s QEQM Hospital.

The aim is to provide better care for patients, improve working conditions for staff and help meet the 2050 net zero carbon targets.

Ms Jones added: "If we do not get this money, there is no other pot. This is it. We will lose this opportunity for the foreseeable future."

Last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to deliver 40 hospitals across England by 2030, backed by £3.7billion of investment.

Expressions of interest are being made by NHS trusts wishing to have their hospital plans considered, including Kent and Medway.

At County Hall in Maidstone on Thursday (Dec 2), Kent councillors agreed to send a letter to Health Secretary Sajid Javid, calling for greater investment to transform health care in east Kent.

Ashford county councillor Paul Bartlett (Con) said: "We have to lobby, talk, cajole our MPs to ask questions in the house.

"It all falls us to be united, not just as Kent, but Medway too."

However, some elected members remain divided over the way forward between the two tabled options.

Medway councillor Teresa Murray (Lab) was unconvinced about the "apocalyptic" fallout from the lack of money.

She said: "If this is going to be a deliverable project it has to be capable of addressing the problems we have got now, such as health inequality, staffing shortages and training to recruit and retain staff."

Meanwhile, her Conservative counterpart, Medway councillor Wendy Purdy (Con) said: "We are united."

She added: "There is no other way forward. We need to improve our hospitals wherever it may be."

A public consultation on the two options will take place after a key decision is made by the UK government on the new hospitals, which is expected next spring.