IN August last year my husband had a stroke. He lay in the garden unable to move.

The paramedics were there within minutes and the ambulance shortly afterwards.

We went to Worcestershire Royal Hospital where the emergency team worked quickly and efficiently.

They gave him the clot-busting drug within the hour and he was transferred to the stroke ward and then on to rehab and earlier this year he returned home with a care package.

In March he had another stroke.

The paramedic again arrived within minutes.

He called and called for an ambulance but sadly there was not one around.

This time the ambulance came from Kidderminster. It took well over an hour to get my husband to hospital. This time, he died.

Strokes are the third most common cause of death in the UK, after heart disease and cancer.

Every year about 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke and about one in five die.

Strokes are an emergency. Every minute counts. The longer the blood flow is cut off to the brain, the greater the damage.

Immediate treatment can save people’s lives and enhance their chances of successful recovery.

In 2012 a decision was passed by the health overview and scrutiny committee, which looks at the work of the clinical commissioning groups and NHS trusts, to improve stroke services in Worcestershire by centralising them at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

It was recently announced that the Alexandra Hospital at Redditch would no longer be taking stroke patients.

The distance from Redditch to Worcester is about 17 miles, possibly a 30-minute journey.

Every minute counts for stroke patients.

The question is: will there be ambulances available to take people from Redditch to the Royal and sufficient facilities to deal with them?

B STEVENSON Worcester