Shakeup of stroke services in Kent approved

A public information campaign stressed the importance of reacting urgently to stroke symptoms

A re-organisation of stroke services across Kent has been given the go-ahead.

Across the county, about 3,000 people suffer a stroke each year and currently they are treated at one of six acute stroke units.

Following a five-year review, plans to replace them with three new specialist hyper-acute stroke units were approved.

The decision by the Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups (JCCG) faced opposition over safety concerns.

'Extremely alarming'

The new centres will be at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Maidstone Hospital and the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

Tara Galloway from the Stroke Association said speed was key to treating strokes, and the location of the centres was not an issue "as long as people can get to them within one hour".

However, objectors claim many will be left too far from a centre, including those in Thanet, Canterbury and Medway.

Carly Jeffrey, from Save Our NHS in Kent, said people in Thanet would have their trip to a stroke centre increased 500%, from 10 minutes to an hour.

South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay agreed an hour's travelling for stroke patients was too far during protests in 2018

Medway Council leader Alan Jarrett said 500,000 people used Medway Maritime Hospital, and being "an area of high deprivation, that is where the stroke offer should be".

More than 100 people attended the meeting, which was held in public.

After questions from campaigners went unanswered, the chairman adjourned the meeting and reconvened it in private.

Vince Maple, leader of the Medway Labour group, said: "The lack of transparency throughout the decision making process is extremely alarming, therefore [we] fully support both a potential judicial review and referring this decision to the Secretary of State."

If the new centres go ahead without further challenge, NHS bosses said two would be open to patients by the spring of next year, and the Ashford unit by 2021.