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Angry councillors have slammed health bosses for failing to take note of warning signs from patients ahead of services collapsing in the Towns.
The Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was criticised for not acting sooner in taking away £4.1m-a-year NHS contracts from private firm DMC Healthcare .
It was responsible for nearly 60,000 patients at nine surgeries across Medway and dermatology services across the county before handing back the contracts it said were no longer viable .
The South-London based company was suspended by the CCG on July 15 due to concerns around patient safety, unreliable reporting of health data and a lack of accountability following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection .
Frustration over the issue boiled over at Medway Council's health scrutiny virtual meeting last week as councillors from all political parties blamed the CCG for not listening to the concerns of patients earlier.
Rochester councillor Teresa Murray (Lab), who is deputy leader of the main opposition party, said: "The voice of patients was screaming as loud as it could that things were going wrong and they were not being listened to."
Dermatology is a medical term for the treatment of skin conditions which can include rashes, lesions, lumps on the skin, changes to moles and skin cancer.
CCG bosses said DMC Healthcare was listed as having a backlog of at least 7,500 patients, however 1,285 were from outside of the county while 600 had already been discharged but still left on its system.
Committee members said some Medway residents had told them that they were unable to access their prescription on time or see their local doctor.
Caroline Selkirk, who is the executive director of health improvement at the Kent and Medway CCG, said they would be working with Public Health England to investigate the debacle, saying the NHS also wants answers.
Dr Ravi Gupta, the chief executive of DMC Healthcare, which was responsible for the services from April 2019, wrote to the committee and said the ruling was "not fair on them" as it was not given enough time to improve.
Since the decision, Medway Practices Alliance has taken over the running of several Medway GP surgeries under the control of DMC, including St Mary's Island and St Werburgh Bells Lane sites. However, residents have told councillors that they remain confused over the latest developments.
Watling councillor Wendy Purdy, vice-chairman of the committee, described the situation as "horrendous" and said: "It's absolute chaos out there and the sooner the CCG grasp that, the sooner you can get this matter sorted out."
Gillingham councillor Dan McDonald (Lab) called on CCG officials to write a letter of apology to all affected patients.
During the virtual meeting, he said: "So many people have brought up so many issues about DMC and it has taken until now for you to do something about it."
In response, Paula Wilkins, chief nurse of the Kent and Medway CCG, offered her sympathies. She said: "We apologise for the chaos and disruption to their service.
"We worked incredibly hard to put something in to make sure it was as smooth as possible.
"When you have something that large which ceases overnight, post the CQC action, it is impossible to get something in without a break in service at all.
"I think all disruption is wrong for patients, but given the circumstances we were in, I think the response and speediness of it was really, really good."
It is hoped the interim dermatology provider, Sussex Community Dermatology Service, will complete the patient backlog by the end of September. Pledges were made to carry out routine appointments in under 12 weeks by November.
Lordswood councillor David Wildey (Con), chairman of the committee, said: "It should have been dealt with in a much better way by listening to your patients.
"I thought there were obvious signs that there were problems years ago. It should not have had to wait for the CQC."
A detailed report on the scandal is expected to be presented to the committee at a later date, with the next health scrutiny meeting scheduled in October.
Dermatology patients can contact a new NHS helpline on 0300 555 0708 from 9am to 6pm on weekdays while people using the affected GP practices should call them as normal.
