by Mary Graham
mgraham@thekmgroup.co.uk
Letters are being sent to 20,000 women as part of a campaign calling for all maternity services to stay in Maidstone.
The campaign, which is being taken to the door of health secretary Andy Burnham, will be launched on Saturday, September 5 by Peter Carroll, the Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Maidstone and the Weald.
Called Full Maternity at Maidstone, Mr Carroll’s campaign has the backing of retired maternity consultant, Alan Pentecost, who founded the Maidstone Maternity Unit in 1974.
Campaign group MASH - Maidstone Action for Services in Hospital - has also called for the full range of services to stay in Maidstone. Members have met hospital consultants during the summer to outline their views.
The Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust plans to concentrate all maternity services at the new Pembury Hospital from around 2011, leaving a midwifery-led birthing unit in Maidstone. The birthing unit would not be able to deal with complications that may arise during birth, such as a woman needing an emergency Caesarean section.
At Saturday’s launch event, which starts at 11am outside Marks and Spencer in Week Street, women can sign the petition which will be sent with a letter to Mr Burnham.
Over the next few weeks around 20,000 women will receive letters urging them to add their signatures and a Facebook group called Keep Full Maternity at Maidstone has also been set up.
Mr Carroll, who has already handed in a petition signed by thousands of women to the trust, said: “People are rightly furious. I am convinced if enough local people get behind me the decision can be overturned.
“I know from my experience of The Gurkha Justice campaign that every single signature, email and letter really does count.”
Mr Pentecost saidd: “All the medical experience shows that having local services is the most important thing for expectant mothers.
“It is a step backwards and exposing women in labour to the difficult road journey from Maidstone to Pembury is both unkind and potentially dangerous.”

• Anyone unable to attend the launch can email Mr Carroll at pdcarroll@cix.co.uk