A health trust has rejected an MP’s call for a public consultation on cuts to stroke rehabilitation services at Whipps Cross Hospital.

Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer has written to the Barts Health NHS Trust urging them to abandon plans to cut the number of beds set aside for stroke rehabilitation patients at the hospital from 12 to seven.

The changes have been the subject of an internal NHS consultation, but Mr Cryer says any consultation should be public.

He says the changes will mean more stroke patients are discharged into the community earlier than they currently are.

And he claims no plan has been put in place to increase investment in NHS community teams who provide rehabilitation services for patients at home.

But a spokeswoman for Barts Health NHS Trust said: “We are following commissioner-recommended guidelines to improve the way we care for stroke patients.

“Therapy staffing will be unaffected so patients will get more intensive therapy and be well enough to go home sooner.”

She added: “The reduction in the length of time stroke patients are spending in hospital means we are able to reduce the number of stroke beds at Whipps Cross from 26 to 19.”

Mr Cryer says that a gym and a day room at the hospital are under threat from the plans, but the spokeswoman denied those claims.

She added: “As there is no impact on the patient pathway, there is no requirement for a public consultation. 

“However, the Stroke Association and London Stroke Network are in full support of the changes and the Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group has raised no concerns or objections so far.”