THE HIGH COURT WILL REVIEW PLAN TO SLASH NHS STROKE SERVICES IN KENT

It’s been announced that the high court will review NHS bosses’ decision to slash the number of hospitals able to offer emergency stroke treatment in Kent.

The judicial review, mounted by health campaign group Save Our NHS in Kent, (SONIK) will be heard on the first available court dates from September.

Jon Flaig, the SONK Chairperson said: “This is good news and is down to a great community effort. Ordinary people from across the county raised the £15000 we needed to contribute to the claimant’s legal aid and start the judicial review process.”

The spokesperson said the case was a vital one, of huge importance to Kent and the whole country. The spokesperson said: “NHS bosses intend to close three out of the existing six hospital stroke units in Kent, which will greatly increase journey times for the most deprived populations. People in Thanet will be affected the worst.

“This is a national plan that they want to roll out across even more areas – so what is happening in Kent, with these very long journey times, is essentially an experiment and a forerunner of what could – and will – happen elsewhere in the country”.

“In Thanet ambulance journey time will go up by a staggering 300%, leaving residents a minimum of one hour away from urgent stroke care. Mortality and disability rates are bound to increase.” But the health campaigners claim NHS plans won’t just affect Thanet.
“This is a definitely a Kent-wide problem. Medway, also a deprived area, will be badly affected, too, and the rest of Kent is likely to suffer due to the pressure on the whole system,” the spokesperson said.

A key part of SONIK’s case is that Kent needs at least four hyper acute stroke units (HASUs) and one must be in Thanet, to ensure that health inequalities are not exacerbated and all patients reach the care they need within approximately 35 minutes, and for a HASU (stroke unit) to be located in Thanet. NHS bosses are planning for only three HASUs in Kent.

The SONIK spokesperson said: “Among other things we will argue that Kent’s NHS bosses did not properly consider the option of having more than three HASUs and did not consult properly with the public about their proposals. This is a battle we intend to win for the people of this area.”

Carly Jeffrey, a SONIK spokesperson added: “The evidence suggests the decision to close stroke units in Medway, Thanet and Tunbridge Wells was a foregone conclusion. We believe that the public consultation was a box ticking exercise that was also designed to gloss over the fundamental flaws in the plans. There are councillors and medical professionals that have backed up our assessment. This is a national plan that they want to roll out across even more areas – so what is happening in Kent, with these very long journey times, is essentially an experiment and a forerunner of what could – and will – happen elsewhere in the country”.

Plans to cut other emergency services such as A&E and consultant-led maternity are in development in east Kent. The plans are in ‘pre-consultation’ phase, and could include the closure of two A&E departments (In Ashford and Margate), leaving just one A&E at Canterbury for the entire region of east Kent. Petitions have been started to stop the closure of Margate and Ashford’s A&Es, each reaching approximately 11k signatures. Save Our NHS in Kent says that each of the three hospitals involved should have a full A&E and full maternity.

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This post includes material from a press release by SONIK (Save Our NHS in Kent).

The Kent and Medway Chiefs* who are proposing these plans can be reached at km.stroke@nhs.net

Information regarding the stroke review can be found here: https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stroke/

*The Kent and Medway Sustainability and Transformation Partnership.