During February and March 2022, NHS England South East region and NHS Kent and Medway CCG asked patients and the public for their views on medium-term proposals for specialised vascular services in east Kent, Medway and the Maidstone catchment of west Kent.
About vascular services
Vascular services reconstruct, unblock or bypass arteries and are often one-off specialist procedures to reduce the risk of sudden death or amputation and prevent stroke.
Currently, specialised vascular services in east Kent, Medway and the Maidstone catchment of West Kent are delivered from two surgical centres – Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham and the Kent and Canterbury Hospital at Canterbury.
The proposals
The proposals would result in all specialised vascular surgery that requires an overnight hospital stay being transferred from Medway Maritime Hospital to the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, which would potentially affect up to 265 patients a year.
Consultation report
This consultation, which was run by NHS England specialised commissioning and NHS Kent and Medway CCG (working with Healthwatch and the acute trusts in east Kent, Medway and Maidstone) ran up to 15 March 2022.
Here is the consultation report on the future of vascular services in Kent and Medway and its appendices.
The report will be considered by the Kent and Medway Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on April 26, you will find the papers here.
NHS England and NHS Improvement will use the findings from the consultation to inform a Decision Making Business Case during the summer of 2022.