Warning as Blackpool patients delay stroke treatment

A new stroke unit offering same day care to patients is due to open at Blackpool Victoria Hospital on Monday January 30.
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The move is part of a £30m programme of improvements for stroke patients across Lancashire and South Cumbria.

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New stroke rehab unit planned for Blackpool Victoria Hospital

Members of Blackpool Council’s Adult Social Care and Health Scrutiny Committee were told the investment was especially vital for the Fylde coast as evidence suggests more people here delay seeking treatment when they suffer the symptoms of a stroke.

The unit will open at Blackpool Victoria HospitalThe unit will open at Blackpool Victoria Hospital
The unit will open at Blackpool Victoria Hospital
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Hayley Michell, programme manager for stroke services, said: “Data shows people in Blackpool and the Fylde region do present late.

“There needs to be stronger messaging about how time crucial it is – it is a medical emergency.”

There were 2,575 patient admissions for acute stroke care and 442 deaths due to stroke in 2020/21 in the Lancashire and South Cumbria region, but the highest proportion of deaths was in Blackpool.

Councillors questioned whether stroke patients arriving by car received the same quick treatment as those brought in by ambulance.

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The meeting heard around 30 per cent of patients make their own way to hospital but they “get the same treatment pathway if arriving by ambulance or self-presenting.”

This includes specialist staff in A&E to triage stroke patients.

The new Stroke Ward Ambulatory Care Unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital is an outpatient facility, supported by the adjacent inpatient stroke ward providing consultation and treatment rooms.

Facilities designed tol help stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation include consultation and examination rooms, an occupational therapy room and a staff training room.

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Similar facilities have already opened in Blackburn, where the committee was told patients are already benefitting from same day treatment including scans. medical investigations and follow up appointments.

Blackpool Victoria Hospital is one of three locations in Lancashire, with the others being in Preston and Blackburn, chosen for acute stroke services offering 24 hour stroke specialist care available seven days a week.

A report to the committee adds: “Having an enhanced network model will mean more equitable access to important life-saving care seven days a week and an increased availability of treatments reducing long-term disability, deaths and costs to health and social care economy.”