FLIGHTS have now been resumed by the air ambulance to Maidstone Hospital's A&E, following assurances that the hospital is safe.

The Marden-based Kent Air Ambulance had suspended its flights into the hospital, following the publication of the Healthcare Commission report into two outbreaks of the superbug Clostridium Difficile (C-diff) in 2005 and 2006.

The air ambulance trust had announced it was to suspend its flights whilst it awaited assurances that the infection problem was under control there.

The Kent and Sussex Hospital and Pembury Hospital, which were also mentioned in the report, do not have helipads.

But today the ambulance trust announced it had agreed to resume its normal emergency services.

In a statement, the trust said: "The charity has been working hard to resolve matters.

"Whereas we had hoped to have an urgent meeting with the hospital trust, in an effort to move things forward, we have secured an independent personal assurance from Candy Morris, chief executive of the South East Coast Strategic Health Authority in which she states: '…that it is now safe to take patients to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust'.

"In view of the foregoing, the charity is pleased to announce that it will be resuming its normal emergency service to Maidstone Hospital with immediate effect."