Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that Medway Maritime Hospital has capacity to meet the needs of the local population.

Capacity planning is a matter for NHS England. Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is the lead commissioner for Medway Maritime Hospital and we are advised that local health and care leaders are working through the Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) to ensure that capacity across the STP footprint will meet future need.

The CCG advises that there are currently no commissioning plans, as part of the STP, to reduce capacity at Medway Maritime Hospital.