Consultation has backed plans to combine specialist vascular services in a single centre for Kent, according to the NHS.

Plans emerged earlier this year to create a single centre for inpatient vascular surgery at Kent and Canterbury Hospital (K&C) in Canterbury, removing inpatient vascular services from Medway.

Consultation ran for six weeks and ended on Tuesday, March 15, and Medway NHS Foundation Trust now says the feedback showed "a clear mandate for change and broad support for the establishment of a single vascular inpatient centre at Kent and Canterbury Hospital in Canterbury."

Currently, vascular surgery – which concerns work to reconstruct, unblock or bypass arteries – is arranged at two centres; one for east Kent based at K&C Hospital and one for west Kent at Medway Maritime Hospital, in Gillingham.

The NHS says the consultation findings informed a Decision Making Business Case which was then approved by all relevant NHS organisations in Kent and Medway.

It was then endorsed by the Kent and Medway Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) on Tuesday December 6 You will find the JHOSC paper here.

Nevertheless a consultation report noted 255 people responded to consultation – many of whom raised the same concerns about accessing services.

It added: "Concerns were raised repeatedly throughout the consultation about the travel options to get to Kent and Canterbury Hospital from across the whole geography of Kent. People felt that there was insufficient information provided about travel options, such as bus timetables/routes, volunteer car driver services and nonemergency patient transport services available to patients to get to appointments at Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

"For some respondents this impacted on their ability to provide an informed response to the consultation and led to them being unable to agree to the proposals or being unsure about the proposals.

"There were comments that challenged why inpatient surgery had to move from Medway Hospital to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, suggesting that an alternative option could be to invest in Medway Hospital instead, and to retain inpatient surgery there. People clearly value having services close to home, reducing travel requirements."

Nevertheless the report also noted that staff responses showed a "clear recognition of the value of having a centre of excellence, and the potential benefits that this might bring to staff retention, recruitment, training and expertise."

The changes mean that all vascular surgery requiring a stay in hospital will move from Medway Maritime Hospital to Kent and Canterbury Hospital by April 2023.

Outpatient appointments and diagnostic tests will continue at Medway Maritime Hospita, as well as hospitals in Ashford, Canterbury, Margate, and Maidstone.

Day surgery will also continue both at Medway Maritime Hospital and at Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

The news follows the announcement last year that half of Kent's hospital stroke units will close and be replaced by three new "hyper acute" centres at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Maidstone Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital.

Further information can also be found on the NHS Kent and Medway website here.

You can read the consultation report on the future of vascular services in Kent and Medway here.