Improving Vascular Services across East Kent, Medway and Maidstone

Consultation has concluded

Our ambition

Our ambition is to create a vascular centre of excellence for Kent and Medway that:

  • Ensures the best outcomes and chances of survival for patients based on best practice agreed by experts
  • Ensures we have more specialists available 24/7 with the right specialist skills, equipment and infrastructure
  • Meets national standards for vascular surgery

To achieve this, we need to change the way services are provided.

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 vascular services consultation document outlined our recommendation for doctors, nurses and other professionals to work together as one team across East Kent, Medway and Maidstone.

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.

These are medium-term proposals which would be in place until a decision is made about how care across east Kent’s hospitals is organised following future consultation about the east Kent Transformation plan.

Consultation report

Thank you for taking part in the consultation, which ran until 15 March 2022. The conclusions are published in the consultation report 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.

For more information visit NHS England and NHS Improvement's website here or NHS Kent and Medway CCG's website here.



Our ambition

Our ambition is to create a vascular centre of excellence for Kent and Medway that:

  • Ensures the best outcomes and chances of survival for patients based on best practice agreed by experts
  • Ensures we have more specialists available 24/7 with the right specialist skills, equipment and infrastructure
  • Meets national standards for vascular surgery

To achieve this, we need to change the way services are provided.

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 vascular services consultation document outlined our recommendation for doctors, nurses and other professionals to work together as one team across East Kent, Medway and Maidstone.

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.

These are medium-term proposals which would be in place until a decision is made about how care across east Kent’s hospitals is organised following future consultation about the east Kent Transformation plan.

Consultation report

Thank you for taking part in the consultation, which ran until 15 March 2022. The conclusions are published in the consultation report 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.

For more information visit NHS England and NHS Improvement's website here or NHS Kent and Medway CCG's website here.