AMBULANCES are taking emergency heart attack patients from north Kent to Ashford instead of Darent Valley Hospital.

Patients across Kent who suffer the most severe kind of heart attack, a complete artery blockage, are being sent to a specialist unit at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

This is because the unit carries out a procedure called primary angioplasty, which is believed to be the most effective treatment for severe heart attack victims, 24-hours a day.

But this means people from north Kent are being taken almost 40 miles away to the unit instead of to the A&E at nearby Darent Valley, which had a £4m cardiac unit opened in 2006.

A spokeswoman for NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent, which oversees Ashford, says evidence shows using primary angioplasty “saves more lives”.