Stroke services in Thanet could receive the final death knell when county councillors meet tomorrow.

Campaigners will be protesting the NHS decision to cut stroke units across the county again, ahead of the meeting which could spell the end of their campaign.

They want councillors to block the move and ask the health secretary to review the plans to open three new stroke units when they meet at County Hall in Maidstone in the morning.

But the Kent Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) - made up of Kent County Council (KCC) members - can only start a process to refer the decision back to the government at its meeting tomorrow.

Opponents are planning two protests ahead of the meeting - one at County Hall and a second outside the civic centre in Margate.

Sonik (Save Our NHS in Kent) say their fight outside Thanet District Council's offices is taking place because the district will be the worst area in Kent affected by the £40 million reshuffle.

The Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate is one of the three hospitals due to lose its stroke unit.

The NHS plans to create three new hyper actue stroke units in Maidstone, Ashford and Dartford.

Thanet will be losing out alongside the Medway Maritime Hospital and Pembury Hospital.

Medway Council is preparing a legal challenge against the NHS plans with council leader Alan Jarrett (Con) saying he is "utterly disappointed" with the proposals.

Campaigners are calling on protesters for another final push to convince councillors not to back the decision and request Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, to review the process.

Carly Jeffrey, from Margate, says the must send a "loud and clear" message to councillors.

She said: "Kent county councillors have the power to refer this plan back to the government and this is what we are calling on them to do.

"We have to give the councillors the message loud and clear - don’t close our stroke units, let’s have the best service possible across Kent."

But the vote will see committee members decide whether to indicate their concerns and intention to refer the decision back to Mr Hancock and the Department for Health, or support the NHS plans.

Council papers explain the legalities behind the decision making process for councillors.

KCC's constitution states members must be able to refer the decision if it can justify one of three reasons.

Councillors must decide if the consultation with the committee was inadequate relating to its content and time frame, reasons for not consulting being inadequate or the proposals is not considered to be in patients' interests in the area.

A report tells councillors if it is felt one of the conditions apply then it "would not be able to make a final determination at this meeting".

Sonik claims in a report it has produced that the NHS "cherry picked" evidence during its consultation, misleading the public and decision makers.

Ms Jeffrey added: "Plans for stroke services in Kent are absolutely not based on an objective assessment of the evidence.

"As a result people were really misled during the public consultation. This is no way to take life and death decisions for the people here."

The committee would have to notify the NHS about the final date it would be making a final decision once the full council comments on the intentions to refer the proposals to the government, council papers reveal.

The report adds councillors will have to provide evidence of "any steps taken to try to reach agreement with the NHS" before reaching a decision about whether to use its referral powers.

Councillors can make a call tomorrow whether to support the plans, or support them and make comments about the plans it "deems appropriate".

The protests outside County Hall and the Civic Centre in Margate start at 9.30am tomorrow ahead of the meeting which starts at 10am.

Read more: All the latest news from Thanet