In the past, patients have had to wait months for appointments

Health chiefs have said the money will mean many heart patients no longer need to travel to London for treatment.

Kent already has some of the treatment centres, which are part of a government programme to reduce deaths from heart disease.

Friday's announcement of funding means five more of the specialist centres will be built over the next two years.

Fast diagnosis

One of the hospitals which already has a treatment centre to combat coronary heart disease is Ashford's William Harvey Hospital.

Machinery there can be used to give a fast diagnosis of heart conditions.

In the past most Kent patients have had to wait months for appointments at London hospitals.

The �14m investment programme announced by the Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority will see treatment centres opened in hospitals in Gillingham, Dartford, Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Margate by 2006.

The health authority has said it expects 80% of patients to be treated within Kent once they are all open.

The centres are also expected to provide job opportunities which could see cardiology experts attracted to work in the county.