Concerned mums will march on Maidstone’s County Hall to hand over a petition decrying a drastic overhaul of breast-feeding support services.

Kent County Council (KCC) is proposing to bring in trained NHS midwives and nurses from the Health Visiting Service (HVS)to support new mothers when the contract with PS Breastfeeding CIC ends in March. This would save £400,000 a year.

Tomorrow from 10am, campaigners and health workers will gather at Maidstone West railway station tomorrow before heading through to the town centre to begin a peaceful protest on the issue.

The move will see 17 specialist clinics and 21 breastfeeding peer support clinics, replaced by 36 general clinics and four specialist clinics spread across the county.

These would be divided up between East Kent (Maidstone, Swale and Canterbury), West Kent (Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Malling and Ashford), North Kent (Dartford, Gravesham and Sevenoaks) and one in Kent Coastal (Shepway, Dover, Deal and Thanet).

Maidstone's two support groups at the Salvation Army Centre and the Meadows Children's Centre would both lose their specialists, but a new group would be set up at Headcorn children's centre.

Opponents of the scheme have criticised the reduction in specialist clinics, which could potentially force women in some areas of the county such as Sheppey or Sittingbourne to have to go further for help.

Earlier in the year, KCC halted its consultation after concerns were raised by health workers. This process was relaunched in October and the current consultation ends on December 3.

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