10-year battle rages over East Kent consultation

Pressure group Concern for Health in East Kent this week expects to make an application for judicial review of the way in which East Kent trust carried out a consultation exercise on local reconfiguration.

The move is the latest in a battle spanning most of a decade. In March, just three days before its demise, East Kent health authority approved trust plans to reduce services at Kent and Canterbury Hospital and centralise them in Margate and Ashford.CHEK wants to challenge the consultation process and the HA's subsequent approval.'The trust consulted on four options and then voted for a fifth one that was not part of the consultation, ' said David Shortt, spokesman for the group.A spokesman for the trust said:

'There has been an exchange of solicitors' letters and we await the outcome of that.'