Health chiefs have warned it could be some time before consultation on a wide-ranging shake-up of services in east Kent can get underway.

Bosses say that while they have made some progress in evaluating two options for east Kent, NHS England recently introduced stricter rules on any reorganisation of healthcare, which has meant “further work is required to progress...options...and meet the requirements of the NHS England guidance.”

A briefing note discussed at a meeting of the Kent and Medway health overview committee on Friday said the additional work needed to meet the new rules is “having an impact on our timelines to deliver a business case and proposals which we can take to formal public consultation.”

Because of this, management consultants have been contracted “to complete an independent assessment of the work to date to transform services and to prepare the business case”.

The briefing paper adds that while there are factors “within our control”, others are not - notably that it is dependant on NHS England to endorse the business case.

Two options are being considered but both are complex in terms of funding and will require significant investment.

One involves the creation of a major emergency centre with specialist services at the William Harvey in Ashford; an emergency centre at the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother in Margate and a GP-led urgent care centre at the Kent and Canterbury.

The other is the creation of a major emergency centre at the Kent and Canterbury and GP-led urgent care centres at the other two hospitals.

Developer Mark Quinn has offered to meet the costs of a new hospital “shell” at Canterbury in return for planning permission to build 2,000 homes.

The east Kent clinical commissioning groups, which are leading the reorganisation, say no date has yet been set for consultation.

A statement issued on behalf of the CCGs said: “Once we have a shortlist of established proposals to go to public consultation, there will be a rigorous assurance process before the consultation launches. It is a process that requires a great deal of hard work and, while it is being progressed as quickly as possible, it is not possible currently to give a date for when consultation will start.”