More than 60,000 Dover residents will have access to outpatient appointments at the new Dover Hospital, a meeting has revealed.

Sara Johnson, the senior strategic development manager at the NHS told residents what they can expect when the new building opens in March 2015.

The hospital is something the town is in urgent need of, as some of Buckland Hospital’s infrastructure is more than 100 years old.

If the current building on Coombe Valley Road was to be restored it would cost taxpayers more than £5.6million, which Mrs Johnson labelled a “not a good use of public money”.

The new hospital outpatient services are also set to stretch from 7.30am to 7pm, and some people will also be seen on a Saturday morning.

It is based around a one-stop clinic model, which provides people with a consultation, diagnostic investigations and treatment all on the same day.

Mrs Johnson said:

“I had my children at Dover Hospital and I ran the high dependency unit at Dover Hospital, so it is very close to my heart and I also lived locally for many years." - Sara Johnson

“The current Buckland Hospital was built at the end of the 19th century. It is a former workhouse and in the most atrocious state.

“There are increasing levels of demand in health care and its continuing growth, our outpatient services are very busy and numbers are increasing.

“We need to make sure we offer an excellent range of services as close to home as possible where that is feasible.”

The issue of travel and car parking was brought up by residents. Some feared for elderly patients.

Mrs Johnson assured guests that the maximum amount of parking spaces were being allocated and staff would have their own car park.

On the East Kent Hospitals University website, it said: “The existing vehicular access to the site off Coombe Valley Road has been modified to suit the layout of the new development.

“A public drop-off bay will be located adjacent to the main entrance, while parking will be on the west part of the site.”

Bus routes, which were branded the “greener way to travel” would run from Deal to Dover town centre every half hour and a connecting bus to the hospital would run every 12 minutes, something project organisers are working on.

She continued: “Sometimes there will be other hospitals you have to go to, what we want to do is make sure that more people in the Dover area can access more services than you can now.

“Our whole way of working is changing, we are hoping most patients get their treatment plan within one day.”