A council has confirmed it plans to lodge a judicial review against any decision which sees its area miss out on a specialist stroke unit.

Kent’s clinical commissioning groups are due to vote on whether to open hyper acute stroke units (HASUs) at hospitals in Dartford, Maidstone and Ashford by the end of next month.

Cabinet members at Medway Council agreed yesterday that a judicial review should be applied for “at the earliest opportunity” following any negative outcome, with the council set to spend as much as £50,000 on the challenge.

Concerns mainly revolve around the favoured option making the 24/7 units – which would treat patients in the first 72 hours after a stroke – difficult to access for high-risk communities in Medway.

Deputy leader Cllr Howard Doe (Con) said: “In reality, frankly, I think a lot of people are going to die before they get the services they need.

“That is a very serious thing – we’re not talking about prestige, we’re not saying we want it because we live in Medway."

He added it was a "ridiculous situation" that an area growing as fast as Medway did not have its own unit.

The main thrust of the grounds for judicial review is the authority’s belief the selection process is “deeply flawed”, with stroke review decision-makers given less than a day to consider changes to the methodology.

Medway Council also suggests the preferred option benefited the most from the adjustments.

Cllr Martin Potter (Con) added: “We’ve not had any detail on the specific reasoning provided for those changes, other than they wanted to discriminate between the options.

“Well, they certainly discriminated against us that’s for sure. I do believe there is a hidden agenda here, and I think that’s very worrying and concerning.”

Medway Maritime Hospital losing services, the possibility of south-east London patients using the HASUs, and the preferred option not having enough capacity were among the issues also raised.

Cllr David Brake (Con) concluded: “If our residents’ needs are not adequately catered for, we as a council are steadfast in our determination to take the necessary steps to challenge the final decision and secure the appropriate services for our population.”

Medway Council wants the new HASUs to be based at Tunbridge Wells, Gillingham and Ashford.