Hospital clashes with NHS over stroke care centres

London: A Top London hospital is in dispute with NHS bosses over reforms in care for stroke patients in the capital.

Officials at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have attacked health chiefs over their choice of sites for pioneering stroke units.

At the heart of the row is the location of specialist 'hyper-acute' centres which the government hopes will save hundreds of lives a year. These units are subject to a public consultation which ends next week.

However, the final plan could lead to two specialist stroke centres within just a mile of each other.

Critics warn this would mean some west London patients losing out on specialist care. Chelsea and Westminster foundation trust chief Heather Lawrence has written to 13,000 staff and patients calling into question the fairness of the consultation.

The trust is rallying members to back its own bid to become a stroke centre and stop centralisation.

Stroke is the United Kingdom's third biggest killer, with more than 100,000 first-time sufferers a year.

However, patients in London face a postcode lottery over care, according to findings from the Royal College of Physicians.