A NHS chief has stood down from her role in what she describes as "challenging times" for services in Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley.

GP Dr Elizabeth Lunt has stepped down as Chair of NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Clinical Commissioning Group and will be replaced by accountable officer Patricia Davies.

It was recently revealed that the Government faced pressure to plug multi-million deficit for health services in Dartford as the council passed motion to lobby for increased funding.

Darent Valley is regularly over capacity and has previously asked patients to use other servies to relieve pressure on the hospital's A&E department.

Dr Lunt said: “I have decided to step down because I want to get more involved with shaping the future direction of health in the local area.

“These are challenging times for the NHS. We are looking at how we can do things differently locally to make health and social care services more joined up. The role of Chair of the CCG is a very demanding one and I wasn’t able to be as involved in developing a new model of care as I’d like to be. I’m immensely grateful to the CCG for being so understanding about my desire to put the future local health care at the heart of the community.”

CCG accountable officer, Patricia Davies, said: “Liz has done a fantastic job as Chair and her shoes will be hard to fill but we’re confident Ashley will do a great job of caretaking the role while we recruit to the position.

“We fully understand Liz’s desire to get more involved with shaping future plans for the CCG and health economy locally. These are exciting times and we’re confident that we can work even more closely with partners to make health care more joined up and efficient for local people. We are excited about working with Liz and other Governing Body members, GPs, staff and partners to achieve this.”

Councillor Josh Jones, Dartford Labour deputy leader said: "We would like to place our thanks to Dr Lunt for her service to the CCG, we’re sure she still has a valuable contribution to make towards healthcare in the area.

"The CCG is facing unprecedented challenges. Population growth of 2 per cent per year and inadequate central government funding means it is projecting to post a deficit of £80 million by 2020. With the difficulty of recruiting and retaining staff due to Brexit, cutting nurses bursaries and the public sector pay freeze healthcare in our communities faces a perfect storm."

Coumcil leader Jeremy Kite has previously spoken out about the pressures the NHS faces.

He said at a meeting earlier this year: “Dartford must get a proper settlement and what’s due to us as a community.

“Civilised health service is key, requires funding commitment training and brave management decisions.

“We need to focus on the things we can achieve in Dartford got to get projections right because funding is crucial and we need fair funding for our growth.”