HEALTH trust chiefs are facing further criticism of their controversial plans for a major shake-up of hospital services in Maidstone.

Kent County Council has refused to accept the findings of a joint report that backed the Maidstone NHS Trust’s proposed re-organisation of women's and children's services.

Opponents fear will the changes will downgrade Maidstone Hospital by moving key services to Pembury.

A cross-party committee of councillors from Kent and East Sussex that examined the proposals said no change was “not an option.”

But KCC’s Conservative-run cabinet promptly rejected the conclusions of the joint investigation by the NHS scrutiny committees of Kent and East Sussex. The committee included county councillors from Kent, East Sussex along with local councillors from Maidstone.

Council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart said he was not prepared to accept a shake-up being driven by staff shortages and problems with recruitment.

“I do not see how we can support the removal of any hospital services when they are being caused by a shortage of staff,” he told a meeting of KCC’s cabinet.

“It does seem remarkable that in Italy, there are 5.7 doctors per thousand people, in Germany there are 3.8 and in the UK, it is 1.7 per thousand."

Other KCC cabinet members echoed the criticism, with one claiming staff had been warned not to make any public comment on the plans because of the risk of adverse publicity.

Cllr Keith Ferrin said during a recent visit to Maidstone Hospital as a patient, a member of staff confided staff had been told to keep quiet.

“This member of staff said to me ‘I cannot tell you [anything]...we must not talk to anyone about our problems.’ It was not the kind of response I expected but the disquiet is widespread across the NHS.” The trust denied staff were under orders to keep quiet.

Dr Tony Robinson (Con), the county councillor who chaired the inquiry into the trust’s plans, said: “All the witnesses we spoke to and the others who gave evidence agree that doing nothing is not an option. If you do nothing, units will close and there will be even more difficulty attracting and recruiting staff. It is due to the lack of staff that we support the trust’s recommendations.”

He revealed that during their inquiry, councillors were told staff shortages had forced the closure of the special care baby unit at Maidstone 44 times in the last three months.

“If services remain as they are, there will be insufficient staff to work at two hospitals,” he warned.

Although the trust is under no obligation to take account of KCC’s view, the criticism will undoubtedly add to the mounting pressure on hospital bosses for a rethink.