A final decision for stroke services
The Court of Appeal refused an appeal against the judicial review which means plans to create three new hyper acute stroke services can go ahead. The Judge considered the application for an appeal against the judicial review ruling which had been made in February. They ruled in favour of the NHS.
Medway Maritime Hospital has been keen to retain its stroke unit and Medway Council had been campaigning to keep it. However, the ruling means that the new hyper acute stroke units will be located at Maidstone, Ashford and Dartford and will be there to treat patients in the first 72 hours following a stroke. Specialist care will be delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week which isn’t currently available.
Thousands of people have been involved in conversations about the need to improve stroke services across Medway and into Kent. Our role isn’t to favour one option over the other, but to ensure people are involved and actively listened to. We do however, recognise that Medway Council and many residents will not be happy with the final decision. We are working with the Stroke Association to ensure that real people are part of the process to develop the new services with a real focus on having rehabilitation services closer to home.
