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New coordinated care for stroke patients
Media information
For immediate release
Date: 28 May 2008
New coordinated care for stroke patients at Waikato Hospital
Stroke victims will now have world-class
coordinated care through
Waikato Hospital, thanks to a
new Organised Stroke Service introduced at
the hospital
this week.
The aim is to be proactive in early diagnosis
of people presenting at
their GP, St John Ambulance or at
Waikato Hospital emergency department
with symptoms of
stroke or trans ischaemic attacks (TIAs).
Raising public
awareness of the emergency nature of stroke and
TIA
symptoms is a priority for the service.
"Patients
should be brought to the emergency department without
delay
so we can improve outcomes. If someone thinks they
are having a stroke
they should tell the emergency
department triage nurse straight away,"
says clinical
director Dr Peter Wright.
The service will then coordinate
the patient's journey from when they
enter the hospital,
through the acute stroke unit/inpatient wards,
to
discharge home with supports or to the hospital
rehabilitation service.
Waikato DHB has invested
$229,000 for the last two months of the
current financial
year to establish the service, which will be phased
in
over several months. Ongoing funding of more than
$900,000 annually will
ensure the seven days a week
service can be fully resourced.
Dr Wright says the service
brings together nursing, allied health and
medical staff
from both acute and rehabilitation services. "It's
about
working to get the best outcome for each stroke patient,
bringing
all the resources we have to ensure they get the
best care.
"As a result we expect fewer deaths from stroke
or TIAs, reduction in
the length of time people have to
stay in hospital, and the ability to
treat most TIA
patients as day-stay cases," he says. "We aim to
avoid
about 20 strokes that would otherwise followed a TIA, and
markedly
reduce death and disability rates after a
stroke."
The service will have its own staff and 18 beds
for stroke patients,
eight for acute patient care and 10
for rehabilitation care.
The Waikato DHB region has an
ageing population. Over the next 10
years, there will be
a 40 per cent increase those aged more than 65
years of
age. Research indicates that the mean age for first
ever
stroke being 74.6 years for New Zealand Europeans
but only 61.9 for
Maori, so the Organised Stroke Service
will be a key part of the Waikato
DHB's response to the
needs of older
Maori.
Ends
Waikato District Health Board
Healthy People. Excellent Care
Waikato District Health Board (DHB) employs over 6500 people and plans, funds and provides hospital and health services to more than 391,770 people in a region covering eight per cent of New Zealand.
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