by Angela Cole

A health centre at Maidstone Hospital that has treated thousands of cancer patients will close in November.

The Mid Kent Treatment Centre, which is inside the Hermitage Lane hospital, also had no superbug infections in five years, but the NHS still says it will shut.

It is run for the NHS by Care UK, a private company, and was due to be taken over by the health service when its current contract runs out on Friday, November 4.

In five years the centre has delivered 37,000 chemotherapy treatments, seen 35,000 people as day cases, and its latest patient satisfaction rating is 97%.

But the NHS says the services can be provided elsewhere.

The Kent Messenger revealed in June that the cost to the NHS could have been £4.7 million to buy it back but now bosses have admitted they will not be taking on the centre and instead it will close.

Keith Willis, a bladder cancer patient from Quarry Square, Maidstone, who has been having chemotherapy at the centre, said: “It is definitely closing and the nurses are all unhappy. They don’t know where they’re going.

“They are angels up there. Because I have had chemotherapy, it is hard to find a vein on me for blood, but the staff there are so good; they are so gentle and can always find one.

“When I have chemotherapy there my wife can stay with me, but there’s no room if I have it elsewhere in the hospital.”

The decision to close it was made jointly by NHS West Kent, NHS South East Coast and the Department for Health.

An NHS West Kent spokesman said: “It was felt that there is now sufficient alternative capacity with other existing providers, such as Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust, to meet the requirements of the West Kent population.”

The trust pledged to keep patients updated on any changes to their appointments nearer to November and that staff would be kept fully informed during negotiations.