Stroke victims need better care says group

Stroke victims need better care says group

20 September 2017

HEALTH officials say the need to reconfigure stroke services is being driven because current provision falls below national standards.

They say one of the key proposals is to connect critical hospital treatment with expert community aftercare and ongoing support, explaining where this is taking place in other regions, there is better and faster access for stroke patients to medical experts and rehabilitation services, saving more lives and resulting in fewer disabilities.

South Eastern Trust consultant, Dr Michael Power, who is part of the team working to reshape stroke services, said when someone suffers a stroke, it is critical they get the help they require as soon as possible.

“Stroke can be very devastating,” he continued. “A lot of people die from strokes and some of those who survive are left with very bad disabilities and handicap which goes on for life. This is a huge burden for the person, their family and the community to bear.”

He explained a major report into stroke services in 2014 found “inconsistency of service provision across the Province” with some places doing very well in some aspects and very poorly in some others and vice versa in other places.

“There were some places where there was no stroke service at all, either in hospital or in the community. If there was a stroke service, many people did not get access to it and were denied lifesaving treatment that would also have improved their outcome,” said Dr Power.

He said a lot of new evidence has transformed the provision of acute stroke services. He said while clot busting treatment to try and dissolve the clot is very effective, it is now known that getting the clot out of the artery is a very good lifesaving treatment. Such a service is available at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

“National guidance says every stroke patient should have access to a hyper acute stroke service, one that can deliver key clot busting treatment and has all the nursing and medical care they need. We cannot do that at the moment in Northern Ireland and we have a long way to go to meet those guidelines,” continued Dr Power.

He said in the recent Bengoa report on the future of hospital services, stroke was one of the areas highlighted as “ripe for reorganisation” as there were a lot of things that needed to be improved. Dr Power said the Department of Health subsequently said stroke services should be reshaped and reorganised.

He continued: “Every person who suffers a stroke needs access to specialist acute care, not just clot busting treatment, but all the medical and nursing care they need at that time. We are not providing that at the moment and something like only half of our stroke patients get access to a stroke unit straight away, with 30 per cent getting access within four hours. The number of people accessing co-ordinated stroke services is too low, with many not getting there soon enough. There there is a need to ensure people get there immediately and that a dedicated seven day stroke service is also available.