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Fresh doubts have been cast on the future of Medway's stroke unit after campaigners lost a High Court battle.
A judge decided to reject a legal review into the decision to close stroke units and create new hyper acute stroke units (HASUs) at three hospitals in the county.
NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups from across Kent want to open the specialist units at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford and Maidstone Hospital.
The decision handed down today means further shadows have been cast about services at Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham which serves more than 500,000 patients.
Campaigners are still able to appeal the High Court ruling but are starting to run out of options to fight the proposals put forward by the NHS which will cut six units to three.
In March, Medway Council referred the decision to move the services away to the Secretary of State for Health and the result from an independent review is yet to be published.
Cllr Alan Jarrett (Con) said: “We are incredibly disappointed with the High Court’s decision and we vehemently disagree with the decision by the Joint Committee of CCGs on the locations for the three hyper acute stroke units (HASUs).
"We highlighted our concerns and referred the matter to the Secretary of State last year and we are waiting to hear their decision.
"We still have serious concerns about the impact of the location of the stroke units and we will continue to voice our concerns for the health of our residents.
"Medway Maritime Hospital is the local hospital for more than half a million people across Medway and Swale.
"If these changes happen these people will no longer be able to receive care locally.
"We are committed to ensuring Medway residents continue to have access to high quality health services.
"The parties have a right of appeal and Medway Council will be evaluating its options over the next few days.”
Alongside Medway, the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital in Margate and Pembury Hospital would lose stroke units under the NHS plans.
