A hospital will be withdrawing treatment for skin cancer patients from April next year.

Medway Maritime Hospital has already admitted its dermatology services were experiencing "serious challenges" and "unacceptable delays".

It comes as a report on the issues in Medway went before a recent meeting of Swale Clinical Commissioning Group describing it as "an extremely fragile service".

It added: "It is clear that there is significant risk of patient harm through the long waits following referrals for possible cancer."

The hospital said it was working with Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for planning and buying local NHS services, to agree a new joint plan to improve the situation.

Lesley Dwyer, chief executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The dermatology service at the trust is experiencing serious challenges in managing current demand.

“Ensuring that our patients receive treatment in a timely manner is of the upmost importance to us and we accept that the delays some patients are currently experiencing are unacceptable.

“We have agreed a joint plan with our commissioners to address these issues and improve waiting times.”

Stuart Jeffery, chief operating officer for Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, said the group was in the process of procuring a new community-based dermatology service which will "go live" on April 1 next year.

He added: “We will shortly be talking to potential providers to ensure they can meet Medway’s future requirements.

"In due course, we will also be running some public sessions to engage with patients about the new service model.

“Our long-term aim is very much to improve the dermatology service overall and provide more clinics within the community, closer to people’s homes.”

He said the group had also been working to agree a new short-term plan to improve the situation.

He added: “Medway NHS Foundation Trust is working with a partner to take some patients off the waiting list and has also put on extra clinics to ensure the waiting list for tests relating to cancer is kept to two weeks.

"We fully expect the dermatology service to continue until the contract ends in March 2019.”