Campaigners protest outside QEQM Hospital in Margate after Kent County Council approves plan to close stroke services and create specialist units
11:37, 25 May 2019
updated: 10:42, 28 May 2019
Campaigners have staged a protest outside a hospital following a decision by Kent councillors in favour of plan which would see three stroke services cut and specialist units created.
Members of Save Our NHS in Kent (Sonik) gathered outside Margate's QEQM Hospital - which would lose its unit under plans - following the vote by Kent County Council's health and overview scrutiny committee, which saw a motion to allow the plan to proceed narrowly passed by just one vote on Tuesday (May 21).
It would see three hyper-acute stroke units made in Maidstone Hospital, Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford and William Harvey Hospital in Ashford to treat patients across the county.
The decision by the NHS clinical commissioning groups in February to focus stroke treatment on these three units has been met with widespread criticism by residents in Thanet - with one patient launching a legal fight against the £40million overhaul as it would mean those living in the district would need to travel to Ashford for treatment.
Carly Jeffrey of Sonik said: “This is a disgraceful vote by Kent County Councillors. The seven who voted for the closures have let down the people of Kent, and Thanet in particular. They have put people’s lives in danger.”
“Hundreds of people emailed the councillors asking them to refer the plans back to the secretary of state. We submitted a petition with almost 5,000 signatures asking the councillors to refer the plans back.”
Sonik produced a report outlining the reasons why, they claim, stroke plans will endanger health and cost lives.
Carly added: “In the report we rebutted every argument that the Kent transformation managers have made in defence of the plans. We made it public and we shared it with the councillors by email. They cannot claim ignorance."
But Rachel Jones, director of the Kent and Medway Stroke Review, has defended the review which would see £40m invested by the NHS to create three hyper acute units.
She said: "There are currently no specialist hyper acute stroke units in Kent and Medway and, despite the tireless hard work and commitment of our staff, our local stroke services are not able consistently to provide the level of care people should be able to expect. Combining our staff and resources into three hyper acute units, able to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, will allow us to deliver excellent care to stroke patients.
“The decision to establish three hyper acute stroke units in Kent and Medway is supported by local, regional and national specialists, including the four hospital trusts and the senior stroke consultants in Kent and Medway.
"While undertaking the review of urgent stroke services, the NHS in Kent and Medway considered the health and wellbeing of the entire population who use them. Factors taken into account included population growth, deprivation, travel times to potential hyper acute stroke units, and impact on specialist stroke staff.
“It is our very carefully considered view that the option approved – for hyper acute stroke units at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Maidstone Hospital, and William Harvey Hospital in Ashford – is the one that will best deliver the necessary improvements to care for stroke patients.”
To keep up-to-date with all the latest developments with your local hospitals and other health stories, click here.
