SURGEONS gave policeman Guy Miller only a slim chance of survival when he was airlifted by helicopter to Maidstone Hospital after being run down by his own patrol car.

For seven weeks he lay unconscious in an intensive care bed with his family, friends and colleagues, all praying the traffic officer would pull through.

That he did, Mr Miller believes, was down to the heroic actions of paramedics at the scene of the crime, the air ambulance crew and the expert treatment he received and is still receiving at Maidstone Hospital.

PC Miller was run over with his own car by a suspected car thief he had chased to Kings Hill, near West Malling, last December. Ricky Hales, 20, was jailed for 15 years for attempted murder in July.

PC Miller said: "I remember little after I was knocked down. It is only what I have been told since. I was stabilised on the road side and airlifted to A&E at Maidstone.

"I was taken straight to the operating theatre for six or seven hours - not just for the broken bones but for internal injuries as well.

“Waking up from the coma was a surreal experience. I thought it was the next day but Christmas and New Year had gone. It was six to seven weeks later and I was approaching my birthday.

"You hear so many negative things about the NHS and about how it is failing, but when I was unconscious and being cared for that couldn't have been further from the truth. The treatment I received was second to none."

Proposals that will mean patients like him being transferred to trauma centres at Pembury, Ashford or Medway in future, have left him horrified.

The 33-year-old said: "I would have been taken to Maidstone, stabilised and then transferred to Tunbridge Wells. That would be a 40 minute journey if the air ambulance wasn't available.

"A hospital service right at the centre of the county and right on the motorway network is being moved to one that has no motorway access. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.”

Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust want to base specialist trauma surgeons for serious broken bone injuries at a single site, initially at Kent and Sussex Hospital and from 2010 the new Pembury Hospital.

A discussion paper was launched by the trust this week outlining its rationale for change ahead of full consultation on final proposals in January. If successful Maidstone Hospital will become the specialist base for elective routine surgery such as hip and knee operations. Clinicians supporting the move insist patients would not be transferred until they were out of danger.