Seriously injured patients will still be seen at Maidstone Hospital - for now.

Plans have been in place since the end of 2007 to move emergency and orthopaedic surgery to the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, as early as May.

But today the board of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust decided to delay the move until Pembury is built, scheduled for July 2011.

Despite the trust insisting publicly that creating a centre for emergency surgery at the Kent and Sussex was in the best interests of patients, a number of concerns emerged this week.

They included the capacity and condition of the Kent and Sussex hospital and increased journey times for patients from Maidstone.

Read the full story in this week's Kent Messenger.