AN NHS shake-up in the county will see nine primary care trusts slimmed down to just three.

Regional health chiefs have proposed creating three trusts as part of a Government-led reorganisation designed to cut red tape and management costs.

Under the plans, one of the trusts will organise GP and primary care for 607,000 patients across Canterbury, Dover, Shepway, Swale and Thanet.

A second will cover the needs of 772,000 patients in Ashford, Dartford, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells.

The third will be based in Medway, serving 275,000 patients.

The proposals are due to be tabled at a meeting of the Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority on Wednesday. They will disappoint some who had argued for a single Primary Care Trust for the whole county.

But they are likely to be welcomed by Medway Council, which argued that it should retain a separate PCT for the local authority area.

The health authority says the planned reorganisation represents the "best balance" between the need to work strategically, meet local needs and develop partnerships with local GPs, councils and others.

The shake-up is one element of a wider re-organisation in Kent. The Kent and Medway SHA has also recommended merging the Kent Ambulance Trust with its counterparts in Surrey and Sussex.