Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3HT DX59900 Sittingbourne 2 Phone: 01795 424341 Fax: 01795 417141 www.swale.gov.uk Direct dial: 01795 xxx xxx
[email protected] www.swale.gov.uk Jeremy Hunt MP Date: xx November 2013 Secretary of State for Health Contact: xyz Dear Jeremy Re: Closure of Faversham Minor Injuries Unit I am writing to you regarding the recent decision of the Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group (known as C4G) to close the Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) currently hosted at Faversham Cottage Hospital. The Cottage Hospital currently serves the town of Faversham and its surrounding villages, which have a combined population of around 28,000 that is growing. As Leader of the Borough Council, Divisional Member for Kent County Council, and a local resident, I and all local residents that I have spoken to have grave concerns about this proposal, and I would exhort you to look into the decision as a matter of urgency. By way of background, C4G recently undertook a procurement exercise for provision of the MIU, but this failed to result in the tender being awarded. It transpires that, although 19 expressions of interest in the tender were received following announcement of the procurement exercise, this reduced to eight following the bidder event, and in the end only one bid was actually received, which was considered by C4G to be unsuitable. I also understand that the four GP practices within Faversham are now on public record in decrying the decision that C4G have arrived at, and in particular they point to the fact that none of the Faversham GP practices were consulted on the decision of the Clinical Commissioning Group, or otherwise involved in the procurement exercise.