Health
More money for stroke treatment
HEALTH Minister Ann Keen announced
last night that NHS North-
East will receive £2.4m over the next
three years to improve stroke services.
The money forms part of a £77m
national investment to combat death
and disability caused by bleeds or
blood clots in the brain.
"The North-East is already the
best-performing region in the country
for providing specialist stroke
services and dedicated rehabilitation
units, but this will help us to go the
extra mile"', said Ian Dalton, chief
executive of the North-East Strategic
Health Authority.
"We welcome anything that helps
us to improve services for patients
even further, because we want everyone
in the North-East to have access
to the best possible care and support."
In the North-East, two-thirds of patients
(compared to half nationally)
spend at least half their time in dedicated
units after suffering a stroke
where they receive specialist care,
and work is under way to increase
this figure.
More patients in the region than
the national average are treated
within 24 hours of a "transient ischaemic
attack" (a condition caused
by a temporary reduction in blood
and oxygen to part of the brain),
which lessens the chances of the condition
developing into a stroke.
Stroke is the largest single cause of
severe disability in England, with
more people in the North-East being
affected by stroke than the national
average. In 2005-06 nearly 13,000 people
in the region were admitted to
hospital with a stroke.
As part of the investment, every
local authority in the country will receive
a ring-fenced grant worth an
average of £100,000 a year. The
money could fund a stroke care coordinator,
counselling services or
support victims returning to work.
8:28am Thursday 8th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
