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Stroke care needs improving, health bosses admit
Thursday, 4pm - TREATMENT for stroke patients in Lincolnshire needs to be improved health bosses have admitted - just three months after initial stroke care was withdrawn from Grantham Hospital.
Thursday, 4pm - TREATMENT for stroke patients in Lincolnshire needs to be improved health bosses have admitted - just three months after initial stroke care was withdrawn from Grantham Hospital.Lincolnshire PCT's programme lead for long term conditions Carol Cottingham made the admission in a report presented to the county council's health scrutiny committee last Wednesday.
She identified several gaps in the service for stroke and mini-stroke patients across the county, including treatment inequality, lengthy waits for diagnostic investigation and lack of rehabilitation services.
In her report, she said: "When benchmarked against national best practice, stroke services in Lincolnshire have historically been poor.
"Differing commissioning intentions and lack of investment by the three previous Lincolnshire PCTs has resulted in poor access to stroke services.
"There is treatment inequality for patients across the county during both the acute care episode and post-stroke within community services."
The PCT announced plans to withdraw initial care for stroke patients from Grantham Hospital in November after a public consultation on the future of services at the hospital.
During the consultation, stroke experts, patients and health campaigners warned it would be a mistake.
This week, vice chair of the health scrutiny committee John Hurst said: "This is a frank admission that the present situation is far from satisfactory in terms of speed of diagnosis, speed of treatment and after-care.
"All we ever got until recently were honeyed words, empty reassurances and patronising drivel that no one believed. Now we have the truth.
"What we are seeing here is a new breed of manager emerging who is prepared to speak the truth as a basis for winning public confidence and a precursor to putting things right.
"The criticisims we made have been vindicated and now there is a major shift in the right direction.
"I am optimistic but the fight has to go on. Eternal vigilance is the price of decent, locally provided NHS services."
The PCT has drawn up plans to improve stroke services, which it says will be implemented in 2008/09.
Measures include improved stroke prevention, quicker access to diagnostic services, suspected stroke patients to be treated as an emergency with immediate clinical assessment and the establishment of specialist stroke and rehabilitation teams.
A spokesman said: "This is in line with the National Stroke Strategy published in December 2007. It means patients will get rapid intervention and treatment when they have a stroke or mini-stroke and support in the community."
Have you or one of your relatives suffered a stroke? What did you think about the services offered to you? Are they good enough or in need of serious improvement? Click here to tell us what you think. E-mail: comment@granthamjournal.co.uk or write to The Journal, 46 High Street, Grantham, Lincs, NG31 6NE.
Add ons
MEMBERS of Grantham Stroke Club have backed moves to improve stroke services in Lincolnshire.
Club fundraiser Hazel Tebb said: “We were upset that the stroke unit was closed at Grantham Hospital. We feel that treatment could be improved.”
Pete Moore, whose wife Ann suffered a stroke, said: “We found that if we wanted to know something we had to go chasing around for information.
“We didn’t know where to go for help. To see follow-up services improved would be a good idea.”
Gaps identified in stroke services in Lincolnshire
* Treatment inequality immediately after a stroke and in the rehabilitation period;
* Stroke patients are not treated as an emergency by some GPs or the Ambulance Trust;
* Patients must wait four weeks for an outpatient appointment at Grantham Hospital and a minimum of 11 weeks at Lincoln;
* Stroke beds are situated within medical wards at Grantham and Louth, while there are dedicated stroke units at Lincoln County and Boston Pilgrim Hospitals;
* There is no dedicated specialist stroke consultant in Lincolnshire;
* No access to thrombolysis (clotbusting) treatment for patients in the acute stage of stroke;
* No rehabilitation services or assisted discharge programmes, leading to extended stays in stroke beds and lack of availability of beds for patients who need specialist treatment.
Source: Lincolnshire PCT - Commissioning Intentions 2008 to 2011 - Transforming Stroke Services
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