IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CARE OF STROKE PATIENTS

"Good progress is being made on improving stroke services within Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) and Nottingham City Hospital (NCH) - but greater partnership between the two hospitals and the wider health community could further improve the care and rehabilitation of patients who have had a stroke."
That is the message from the Chairman of Friends of Stroke Services (FOSS) as they present an £11,300 treadmill to the stroke unit at QMC on Monday 2 August 2004. In all, Friends of Stroke Services has raised in the order of £30,000 and have so far donated about £25,000 to QMC since it was set up in November 2001.
Chairman of FOSS, Ossie Newell, says: "Many people have shown great commitment to improve the services for stroke patients in Nottingham at both Hospitals. This includes staff, volunteers, patients and carers. This has led to local stroke services that have made good progress when compared with some other parts of the country.

"However, national and local indications continue to show that stroke services in general are under funded and often not treated as a priority. Therefore it is important for us to carry on finding new ways of providing support and improving stroke services through partnerships."

A review of stroke services within QMC and NCH was carried out in 2002, which praised the efforts of those involved in delivery, but also recognised the need for further partnership, consistency and funding.

One direct result of the review was the appointment in 2003 of Dr Peter Berman as the lead clinician for stroke services across both hospitals.
Dr Berman says: "Stroke Services at the two acute Nottingham hospitals are well-established and have developed enormously over the last ten years.
The creation of the Nottingham Stroke Service Partnership Action Group (NSSPAG) will undoubtedly contribute significantly to further progress by ensuring that the views of patients and carers are incorporated into service monitoring and development."
ENDS