The trusts said savings from a possible merger would be put back into patient care
Hundreds of jobs could be cut as part of plans to merge two Kent hospital trusts to save money.
The trusts which run Darent Valley and the Medway Maritime hospitals said a move would enable them to share some back office staff and management teams.
They have insisted that core services would remain at both sites and savings would be put back into patient care.
Unison trade union said any job losses at the hospitals would have an impact on services.
'Core services maintained'
Medway Maritime Hospital chief executive, Mark Devlin, told BBC South East Today: "We haven't got precise numbers yet of the number of staff that would be affected.
"We're not talking thousands but we're potentially talking, we could be into hundreds of support and back office staff.
"Inevitably they'll be situations where new services will be developed, will perhaps go to one hospital or the other, just in terms of the economy.
"But core services - A&E, maternity, children services - all of that needs to be maintained at both hospitals."
Simon Bolton, of Unison, said: "The NHS is a team that provides a service to the public.
"If you cut any member of the NHS in terms of the employees out, there's going to be an impact.
"There's no such thing as back office staff and I wish people would give up using the term."
The trusts, which have a combined budget of about £370m, said the plans were at an early stage.
