CONSERVATIVE MP Ann Widdecombe warned ministers last night of a crisis of confidence in the future of Maidstone Hospital because of a continued "plundering" of services.

Miss Widdecombe, MP for Maidstone and the Weald, was speaking at an adjournment debate in the House of Commons.

She called for the latest trust plans affecting orthopaedic trauma and women and children's services to be abandoned.

She said: "Until a few years ago the picture was a fairly happy one, but since 2000 there has been a consistent stream of proposals to - I can put it in no other terms - plunder Maidstone."

Miss Widdecombe, told health minister Melanie Johnson of the real concern expressed by senior clinicians.

She added: "There is, I believe, a serious crisis of confidence in Maidstone about the future of a large and respected general hospital."

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