Practices are being invited to take part in a campaign to promote stroke awareness and the necessity of early recognition and intervention. This backs up the publicity campaign around “FAST” ie Face, Arm, Speech, Time.
The scheme being run by the Care Trust Plus aims to improve the number of patients who are admitted to hospital quickly following a stroke.
On invitation by practices, a trainer will visit surgeries to work with clinical and non clinical staff on speedy recognition of stroke symptoms or TIAs (mini strokes).
The sessions will highlight the necessity of getting patients into emergency units early on and the extensive care that is on offer for stroke treatment in the borough.
Following the surgery sessions the campaign will then be taken out into the community where it is hoped volunteers will be recruited to further publicise early stroke diagnosis.
This will be followed by awareness raising at community facilities including care homes and community centres.
Medical director Dr Malcolm Ridgway said: “It is really good to see that stroke care is improving in Blackburn with Darwen and I would encourage all practices to partake of this training and awareness raising, particularly practice staff.
“Locally we have a wide range of stroke facilities including five specialist TIA clinics, a dedicated stroke unit and a highly regarded community rehabilitation service.
“The outcome for stroke patients has improved dramatically over the last few years but we can always do better.
“Particularly we still need the signs of stroke and TIA to be recognised as early as possible for the patient to have the best chance of a good outcome.”
The free training can be tailored to the needs of individual practices and adapted to fit in any time slot.
It involves a short 10-20 minute presentation or informal discussion and is available from December to February on a first come first served basis.
For more information or to book a training session contact Caroline Holtom, Healthy Communities Project Manager, on (01254) 694503.
