Podcast: Medway Maritime Hospital introduces mandatory face masks as battle continues against rising flu cases

A second Kent hospital is making patients and staff wear face masks amid rising flu cases, which have not yet hit their peak.It comes as we’ve spoken to a pharmacist who says there is plenty of vaccine available despite reports of low stock. Also in today’s podcast, a controversial contraflow system has been set up on the M20 in anticipation of high passenger numbers heading through Kent to Europe.Bosses say the system will act as a pressure valve to minimise the impact of congestion further down the road – but just this morning a broken down lorry within the contraflow caused a backlog stretching back miles. Government education chiefs have confirmed funding for new special education needs schools in Kent, calming fears certain projects could be scrapped amid ongoing delays.KCC say it’s been told funding will be provided by the government for the new schools in Whitstable, Swanley and Northfleet. A fundraising campaign has been launched to help a man from Deal with Locked In syndrome speak again. Jeff Brown suffers from the extremely rare condition, which leaves the person conscious but unable to speak or move, after a stroke in 2019 – you can hear from his family who say there’s massive potential for improvement. And a Thanet youth club is closer to securing its long-term future after being told it'll receive a huge grant.Pie Factory Music has been campaigning to buy its building in Ramsgate after the county council announced plans to sell it – you can hear from their very relieved CEO.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.