CONSULTATION began this week on controversial proposals that many fear will downgrading services at Maidstone Hospital.Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust chief executive Rose Gibb claims this isn’t the case and explains the rationale for reform.

I AM proud to be the chief executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and I know that patients are also extremely loyal to their own local hospital. And it is improving patient care that is motivating the clinical experts and me to take forward the changes we want to see across our hospitals.

The population of Maidstone deserve a first-rate health service and I am passionate about delivering the best care for them locally.

Yes, we have targets, yes we have financial constraints but fundamentally my job is about doing what’s right for patients. That means putting standards of care as my number one priority.

Maidstone is the County Town, it has a significant population and Maidstone will always have a major hospital. Patients will always be able to come here for life-saving emergencies and minor injuries.

But that is not enough for me. I want a vibrant hospital that has a full range of services. A hospital that enables us to treat patients for specialist conditions locally rather than having to send them to London. A hospital in which staff want to work and that supports the whole populations of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells. This is vital for our future.

We already provide cancer care at Maidstone not just for local residents but for the whole of Kent. I want to expand this so that more of our patients can be treated safely, here in Maidstone.

But we all have to understand that to provide high quality patient care we need to change.

We’ve always provided good care and over the last nine months since I started we’ve made tremendous improvements so you now get seen much quicker.

Ninety-eight per cent of all patients seen in A&E are treated within four hours. Six months ago that figure was 58 per cent.

Waiting times for operations have fallen, so that no one waits more than nine months, and no more than three months for cataracts

Waiting times for outpatient appointments have tumbled, and no one has to wait longer that 17 weeks for routine care

I’m proud of the work my staff have done. But to improve clinical quality further so that we are set up for the future we must modernise how we deliver care.

We are already investing in better facilities to treat patients.

Apart from the new hospital at Pembury, we have also developed services at Maidstone.

We have a dedicated elective orthopaedic unit; a brand new Ear, Eye and Mouth Unit (EEMU); the Peggy Wood breast care centre; the emergency care centre in A&E; the Kent Oncology Centre; a new CT scanner being installed in December

We are working with other NHS partners to expand our stroke service and improve how we deliver rehabilitation, closer to the patient’s own home.

We are expanding our cardiac services so that we can treat patients at Maidstone who are currently travelling to London.

For the future we will be putting in new IT and imaging technology so that doctors can see patient’s X-rays and notes anytime, anywhere.

Every day I see the dedication of doctors and nurses working long shifts, overtime, coming in on days off simply to keep things running 24 hours a day.

In some of our critical services they are just too stretched. For example, the NHS just does not have enough children’s doctors to run things as they are.

I want to be able to guarantee standards of quality and staffing and not be dependant on having to rely on last minute overseas campaigns.

I want to stop inappropriately transferring sick babies to other specialist units just because I don’t have the staff. I don’t want to separate parents and babies.

I want these hospitals to care for pregnant women locally, offering specialist skills for detecting complications. Again preventing women from travelling to London.

We simply cannot continue to run some aspects of some services at every hospital. So, we must work with you to determine how our future hospitals work together, complementing each other.

This is about providing safe, effective care for the whole of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells that meet your expectations of modern healthcare.

It will also allow us to develop specialist services to prevent local people travelling to London. This is key to improving standards and recruiting vital staff.

The changes that are being proposed come from clinicians themselves, not managers. They, like me, want to provide patients with the best and safest care possible.