‘Faulty machine puts the lives of stroke patients in danger’

STROKE patients are being put at risk by a faulty machine, the Irish Heart Foundation has claimed.

The device, used for thrombectomy procedures at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, has failed on a number of occasions – including while patients were being treated, according to the IHF.

The procedure restores blood flow to the brain after a stroke by inserting a tube through the groin towards the brain and sucking out the clot.

Currently there are two machines in the country: one at Beaumont, which treated 248 patients last year, and another in Cork University Hospital, which treated 31. However, Beaumont’s device is not functioning properly and replacement parts will be unavailable at the end of next year due to the age of the device, according to the IHF.

The charity said the cost of replacing the machine would be €1.5million plus building costs. The device must be turned off and on again, and can take up to ten minutes to reboot each time.

IHF spokesman Chris Macey described it is an ‘accident waiting to happen’, and said ‘every second counts when it comes to strokes’.

Protesters gathered at the hospital’s gates on World Stroke Day yesterday calling for the machine to be replaced.

Mother-of-two Rachel Corbally urged the HSE to invest in the machinery, which she said saved her life. The 48year-old had a stroke last January – but was still able to go on a date and attend a job interview the following week after having the procedure at Beamount.

She said: ‘It’s ridiculous to say that a machine that provides so much life-saving to over 200 people a year has to be switched off and switched on again to get it moving.’

Authorities at Beamount said steps had been taken to replace the machine, and that this is ‘currently under discussion with the HSE’. The HSE said it is considering a submission for the expansion of the service at the hospital as well as the instalment of a second device.