MAIDSTONE Hospital's maternity unit has missed out on a financial windfall from the Government - because its bid was lost in the post. While maternity staff at Pembury Hospital celebrated a £60,000 windfall this week colleagues at Maidstone Hospital were left down in the mouth.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust sent in separate bids for the two hospitals to the Department of Health for Government cash for both maternity units. The Government set aside £16 million for maternity services in the South East and distributed the money among 25 health trusts.

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust asked for a combined total of about £120,000 and believed its bids had been successful, after a call from the DoH. But when confirmation came through the post, the Maidstone bid was missing and the trust received just £60,000 for Pembury.

It emerged this week that the Department of Health never received the trust's £60,000 bid for Maidstone maternity unit, which would have paid for an upgrade to its foetal assessment unit.

Trust spokesman Colette Glasson said: "We submitted both bids separately and tended to think that would be OK. It now appears that the Maidstone bid was lost in the post. We are making the strongest possible approach to the regional office asking that Maidstone does not miss out. We fulfilled our part and it seems grossly unfair that Maidstone should lose out."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said all of the £16 million had been shared between trusts throughout the region and it was highly unlikely that any money would be left over. The spokeswoman added that the incident would be investigated thoroughly to find out what went wrong.