HEALTH chiefs in West Kent have defended proposals to double the size of a secure unit for the mentally ill that could see increased referrals from special hospitals, including Broadmoor.

Members of the West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust claim residents have nothing to fear from their plans for the Trevor Gibbens Unit in Hermitage Lane, Maidstone.

The unit provides care for men and women who have committed crime while suffering from severe mental illness, including schizophrenia and manic depression.

Its patients are normally referred from high security special hospitals as well as from prisons and the courts, where suspected mental illness has been identified.

It is the third expansion at the site in the past five years. Ten beds were added in five years ago and a further seven three years ago.

The latest expansion will see the total number increase from 32 to 58 in 2005 allowing the hospital to meet increased demand for people needing its services in the area.

Chief executive Jon Wilkes said the proposed expansion did not mean there would be an increased security risk to its neighbours, despite the close proximity of new development on the Oakwood Hospital site.

He said: "It will be an extension of what is there already. There are 32 beds at the moment. Our intention is to add 26 more by 2005.

"It will allow more people to receive treatment that they need in their locality and with the appropriate level of security."

"There are no mad axe-men here. Anyone considered a serious danger to the public at large would be admitted to a high security special hospital or to prison."