Patients ‘are waiting too long for stroke treatment’

MORE THAN a third of stroke patients in East Yorkshire are waiting too long to be admitted to specialist wards, according to latest NHS figures.

The data reveals that 36 per cent of patients who went to hospital with a primary diagnosis of stroke during 2017/18 were not transferred to a stroke ward within the recommended four hours.

In Hull, 132 out of 421 patients, some 31 per cent, were not admitted to a specialist unit within four hours of arriving at hospital, while in the East Riding 230 out of 590 patients were not transferred within that period. The figures do not include patients who were first admitted to intensive care units or similar due to the severity of their stroke.

Guidelines state that patients should be admitted within four hours “so treatment can begin as quickly as possible, and to help prevent complications.” A stroke happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, killing brain cells in the process.

Alexis Kolodziej, deputy director at the Stroke Association, said they wanted to see more people treated at bigger stroke centres rather than at smaller, local hospitals.

He added: “While it may seem counter-intuitive, we’ve seen that travelling slightly further to a bigger specialised centre actually means patients get treated faster and their outcomes are better, helping to reduce the huge emotional and physical burden of this devastating disease.”

A spokesman for East Riding NHS Clinical Commissioning Group said their figures were above the national average.

He added that they were working with trusts “to ensure continuous performance improvement.”