STROKE rehabilitation services have been brought together under one roof to create a ‘centre of excellence’ at Redcar Primary Care Hospital.

The new specialist stroke unit brings together community inpatient stroke beds with specially trained nurses and rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy.

Stroke patients of all ages can benefit from a range of facilities at Redcar Primary Care Hospital and patients can now get home from hospital faster thanks to the launch of the stroke early supported discharge (ESD) team.

Up to 40 per cent of patients are expected to benefit from the ESD service which gives patients the option of receiving stroke specialist rehabilitation in their own home.

Stroke patients who would previously have been sent to Carter Bequest and Guisborough Primary Care Hospitals are now being admitted to the specialist unit at Redcar.

Director of integrated therapies Barbara Stoker said: “We are delighted to welcome the first stroke patients to the new unit. The move gives patients access to a wide range of experts on one site.”

Dr Ali Tahmassebi, from South Tees Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “It is really heartening to see our plans to improve services for our stroke patients come to fruition. We now have an excellent special unit to care for our patients who have had a stroke and need to be looked after in a hospital.

“This facility, along with the introduction of the new ESDA team, will ensure that patients living in South Tees receive expert timely support and rehabilitation in the right place.”

In 2013, 426 people from the South Tees area were treated for stroke at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and the number of people experiencing a stroke in the locality is projected to grow by around 12 per cent by 2020.