HAWKHURST Cottage Hospital has stopped recreational groups using its rooms and cancelled all outpatient clinics.

Hospital supporters are outraged and say the governing bodies have "no right to do so" because funding has come from the community.

But NHS West Kent PCT and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said the cuts are due to a lack of demand.

Stanley Acland is angry the PCT axed the day centre which has offered elderly patients care one day a week for the past 18 years.

Mr Acland, Akeomai Trust chairman, which has run the service in the Jesse Norris Day Centre since 2003, said: "It's a travesty of justice. We have all been kicked out."

The day centre previously let elderly residents get together on Wednesdays from 9am to 3pm – giving carers a day's rest.

"But all social activities have now been ousted from the hospital," Mr Acland added.

"These elderly people have been placed on the scrap heap. We can't find alternative accommodation so we have had to close. The village has given time and money to improve the hospital and now the PCT has decided we no longer fit into its future."

The NHS trust has also this week confirmed it was stopping outpatient clinics due to a "lack of demand".

Madeline Gourmand, who ran the clinics for eight years until 2007 as lead nurse, said she was "confused" the service had been withdrawn.

She said: "It was a very buoyant, lively service. I could never have imagined it would go."

The outpatient clinics saw consultants visiting the hospital on a monthly basis and was a first port of call for patients referred by their GP.

Minor operations were carried out and it meant patients did not have to travel to Tunbridge Wells or Maidstone for their first appointment.

She added: "With three fairly large surgeries in Hawkhurst I find it hard to believe there's not enough demand.

"The hospital is largely funded by the community and I query the legality of them taking these services away."

A WKPCT spokesman said: "As the need for clinical treatments has increased the space is required to ensure our patients receive the best possible care.

A MTW spokesman added: "We no longer provide a small number of our outpatient clinics due to a lack of patient demand in the area.

"It makes better sense to spend money on actual patient care."

Hawkhurst Cottage Hospital was saved in May 2007 after a nine-month review of services.