Top times for treatment

Wimmera Health Care Group has recorded improvements in stroke-treatment times that put it ahead of a national average.

The times have also put the service at a similar level with the United Kingdom and the United States.

The health service was one of 16 rural hospitals to partner with The Florey Institute to trial a Victorian Stroke Telemedicine, VST, program in 2016.

The trial has finished and the positive results have prompted Wimmera Health Care Group to adopt the program permanently.

Nurse practitioner candidate Jarrod Hunter said the VST program put in steps to decrease the time it took a potential stroke patient to get a CT scan, have scans assessed and then potentially receive thrombolysis treatment.

“Our times from ‘door to needle’ have reduced by 28 minutes and 57 percent of patients are receiving thrombolysis within the recommended standard of 60 minutes from hospital arrival,” he said.

“Only 30 percent of patients with ischaemic stroke in Australia receive this treatment in 60 minutes of hospital arrival, compared with 59 percent in the US and 62 percent in the UK.

“So our figures put us up there with them. It is a whole team effort that has made this possible and I think everyone involved should be congratulated.

“It is great for a rural hospital like ours to get results like this and show that the tyranny of distance does not have to get in the way of quality care.

“We are using technology and great relationships with metropolitan specialists to work around our distance and this is now part of our core business.”

At Wimmera Health Care Group it takes 14 minutes for a stroke patient from the time of arrival to having a CT scan, compared with a national average of 25 minutes.

The time it takes for a stroke patient from arrival to having a video consult with a neurologist in Melbourne is 11 minutes, compared with the national average of 43 minutes.