From May next year don't expect to be taken to Maidstone Hospital if you are seriously injured.

Health chiefs have given final approval this week to plans to move emergency and orthopaedic surgery from Maidstone to Tunbridge Well. They have also revealed a date for the changes.

From May people seriously injured in accidents will be taken by ambulance either to the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, or to other A&E units in Medway, Ashford or Dartford.

Staff consultation will begin next month and recruitment of additional jobs to support the move will begin in November. These include one consultant and two middle grade A&E doctors.

In 2011 the surgical services will move to the new Pembury Hospital.

But campaigners who fought the plans are angry that there could be less middle grade emergency and orthopaedic surgical cover left at Maidstone than first thought.

The plans were approved at a board meeting of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust on Wednesday.

Philip Bentley, the trust’s consultant director for surgery, said: “If we don’t reconfigure we will fall even further behind neighbouring trusts who have already reconfigured services to the benefit of their patients.”

While Maidstone Hospital will have an on-call consultant surgeon available 24 hours every day, the trust has given itself an option to reduce the hours of middle-grade doctors on site at Maidstone Hospital.

The trust’s preferred option is middle-grade surgical cover on site at Maidstone until midnight and on call from midnight to 8am.

For orthopaedics there will be no consultant on call at Maidstone after 6pm but there will be one on call at Kent and Sussex. There will be middle grade orthopaedic cover on site at Maidstone until 8pm then on call at Kent and Sussex after that.

But the Trust also approved an option to reduce the on site cover at Maidstone to 8pm for surgical and 6pm for orthopaedics, if it has problems recruiting middle-grade doctors because of restrictions tot he hours they can work under the European Working Time Directive.

The trust predicts it will cost £4.5million more, over the next five years, if the services remained at Maidstone.

The plan for reduced hours of cover were first revealed by BMA chairman Dr Paul Hobday, at the inaugural meeting of the campaign group MASH (Maidstone Action for Services in Hospital) in July, but the option has not appeared in any board papers, until this week.

Cllr Eric Hotson (Con) chairman of MASH, said: “This is a dirty deed.

“MASH was put on notice by one of its members that reduced hours could be the case. On further investigation this was denied, yet this week it appears it is a high possibility.

“If it goes ahead it will be to even greater detriment to the people of Maidstone and MASH is totally against this.”

Asked by the Kent Messenger if any decision to take up the option to reduce the hours of cover would be discussed in public, chief executive Glenn Douglas pledged that it would come back before the trust board.

He added: “We are committed to the longer hours but we need to get recruitment up. We will be open and honest but we are not anticipating having to reduce these hours.

“Reconfiguring the services to create a centre of excellence for trauma will improve patient care.”

MASH is due to meet members of the trust board in the next few weeks.