30.09.16
RCP: Quicker access to brain scans needed for suspected stroke patients
All suspected stroke patients should receive an urgent brain scan within one hour of hospital admission, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has said.
The recommendations, made in new guidance due to be published on Monday, significantly reduce the recommended time for a brain scan from the previous 12-hour standard.
The RCP admitted that restructuring of services might be needed to deliver the recommendations, including ensuring that all acute stroke hospitals have access to brain scans 24 hours a day and transferring acute stroke services from some hospitals to bigger regional centres.
Dr Martin James, a stroke physician in Exeter and one of the editors of the new guideline, said: “Stroke is a medical emergency and if outcomes for people with stroke are to be improved we need to minimise time delays in diagnosis and treatment.
“In recent years stroke care in the UK has improved dramatically. We have collected very good evidence that the earlier someone with a stroke gets specialist treatments then the better their chances of recovery.”
The guidance says that earlier scans will also allow more patients to receive ‘clot-busting treatments’ designed to reopen the blocked artery in the brain, which will reduce long-term disability risks.
In addition, it recommends discharging patients earlier and ensuring they can receive rehabilitation treatment in their own homes.
A report from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, published this week, said that there is a “persistent problem” with elderly patients being discharged without proper follow-up care.
Both treatments are intended to reduce the cost pressures on the NHS. A recent landmark report from the RCP said NHS finances are “unsustainable” without significantly more funding.
Dr James added: “We have also learnt just how cost effective treatments like clot-busting thrombolysis in hospital and early rehabilitation at home can be. With the NHS facing ever-increasing pressures on costs and hospital beds, we need to make sure we deliver treatments that help to get people with stroke back home living independently again.”
Professor Avril Drummond, chair of the UK Stroke Forum and fellow of the College of Occupational Therapists, said she was “particularly pleased” that the guidance contained “more recognition of the length of the journey and thus… recommendations for enhancing life after stroke”.
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