Stroke services changes backed
Better care and better outcomes for patients – that is the view of senior doctors who have backed plans to improve hospital-based stroke care in West Sussex.
Clinical leaders believe the proposals being shared as part of a formal public consultation process would ultimately mean more local people would be able to survive a stroke, and more survivors would be able to maintain greater independence as they recover from the potentially devastating impact of such a traumatic event.
The proposal is to create an Acute Stroke Centre (ASC) in Chichester, for the coastal area of West Sussex. Worthing Hospital would no longer receive people who are experiencing a stroke.
Instead patients would go either to the ASC at St Richard’s Hospital or the Comprehensive Stroke Centre at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton – already a well-established regional centre of excellence offering round-the-clock expertise and the latest treatments. The NHS said existing services in Chichester and Worthing do not meet national standards and do not provide care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Dr Rajen Patel, a consultant stroke physician at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospitals, said: “We know stroke care must be provided quickly, but we also know that if all the right elements of stroke care are available in one place, we can improve how we treat and support people who are experiencing a stroke.
“Evidence shows patients have better outcomes if they are treated at a larger Acute Stroke Centre, and this is why our clinical experts and NHS partners have been looking at how we could develop one of these centres in West Sussex.
“People may travel another 10 to 15 minutes in an ambulance to their local stroke centre, but we know that because of all the specialist expertise at that service, this would be better for them when they need our help most. We know a more centralised approach to our stroke care would mean patients have better outcomes, shorter lengths of stay in hospital, mortality rates would be lower and we know the longer-term benefits would be greater.”