Medway Local Plan (Regulation 18, 2023)

Medway desperately needs a new hospital, one that has room for expansion if necessary. We had 3 hospitals but are down to one that can’t expand and is not fit for purpose, it’s too old and can’t provide comprehensive services to the expanding communities it serves. currently services such as blood testing are undertaken at a unit on an industrial estate and clinics are farmed out everywhere, some of the wards at this hospital are old, narrow and Victorian. Last October I spent time on Sapphire ward, we had a resident mouse in the ward that ran about the floor at night and this was on one of the more modern rooms. The car parking is expensive, limited and pitiful I feel sorry for the staff who try to work there. Plenty of greenfield sites are being sold off for so called luxury or executive housing, particularly on the peninsula, let’s see some real future planning, we need green spaces and more social housing but we need an up to date, modern hospital to provide a good service here.