Emergency patients destined for the Kent and Canterbury hospital will be diverted elsewhere from Monday.

The troubled hospital will see its urgent care service scaled back drastically next week, forcing heart attack, stroke and pneumonia patients to be taken by ambulance to Ashford or Margate.

Bosses say the move – which follows a recommendation from Health Education England (HEE) to pull trainee medics from the city site – is only temporary.

But Ken Rogers, chairman of campaign group Concern for Health in East Kent (Chek), fears it is the start of the downgrading of the hospital.

“I am angry that we have got to this point and I think it is totally unnecessary,” he said.

“I think this is the worst healthcare I have ever seen in east Kent – nobody seems to realise how many people live here and they think they can close what they like.

“I do not believe any of the management has any intention of bringing the services back, but we haven’t finished our fight yet and there are many different avenues for us to go down.”

Inspectors from HEE visited K&C in March and found that junior doctors were inadequately supervised because of a shortage of permanent consultants.

It recommended 42 of the 76 trainees there be moved to Ashford’s William Harvey and the QEQM in Margate.

"I think this is the worst healthcare I have ever seen in east Kent..." - Ken Rogers

Patients with a planned operation or appointment at K&C will be unaffected by the change, but heart attack, stroke and pneumonia patients will be taken to A&E departments at one of the two sister hospitals.

In a statement, the east Kent health trust said: “The changes mean patients needing emergency medical care who would usually be brought to Canterbury will be taken directly by ambulance to our hospitals in Margate or Ashford instead, whichever is closer, for initial assessment.

“If they need to be admitted, patients will continue to be treated at these hospitals while they are very unwell.

“This is because patients’ safety and recovery is our utmost priority.

“We need patients to be seen in the place they will get the most appropriate treatment which means, for the moment, being treated at Ashford and Margate for the initial stages of their care.

“Once local patients are well enough, if they need to remain in hospital to continue their recovery and rehabilitation, they will be able to move to the K&C to be closer to home.”

The changes do not affect other services at the K&C, including chemotherapy, renal, vascular and urology as well as outpatient clinics.

The centre's minor injuries and illnesses service will still be open 24/7.