Stroke service figures misleading — hospital

HOSPITAL chiefs have hit out at Oldham’s Primary Care Trust for releasing outdated figures on its stroke service which they claim are misleading.

A story in the Evening Chronicle following the last NHS Oldham board meeting a fortnight ago highlighted concerns by board members that targets were not being met.

It said seven out of 10 stroke patients should be spending 90 per cent of their time on a stroke unit for treatment, but November, 2009, figures revealed only 51 per cent of patients were doing so. The report prompted an angry response from doctors and nurses at the Royal Oldham Hospital’s stroke unit, who strongly defended the service.

They say the figures quoted related to just one area from nine quality measures for stroke care, which were monitored each month.

And they point out that another area, which puts the spotlight on patients having individual rehabilitation goals, has notched up a 100 per cent mark so far this month.

They added that seven in 10 patients had a CT scan within 24 hours of admission — but that still left three in 10 receiving less than ideal treatment.

Hospital bosses said systems were in place to improve the figure, and that more than 90 per cent of stroke patients were assessed by a physiotherapist within 72 hours, and 80 per cent by an occupational therapist within four days of admission.

A disappointed Joanne Sloan, divisional nurse manager at the Royal Oldham Hospital, said a team of nurses, medics, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and service managers met monthly to look at the figures and change their action plan to respond to changes.

She said that process, coupled with the dedication of staff on the stroke unit, meant overall performance had improved month on month.

She said: We would like to reassure the people of Oldham that the multi-disciplinary stroke team are dedicated in their efforts to ensure continuous quality improvements within this service to meet the needs of patients.”

Alan Higgins, Oldham’s director of public health, called on NHS Oldham board members at their meeting earlier this month to meet board members of Pennine Acute Trust to discuss the issue.

He told them: “While services are improving, it is not at a sufficient rate to give us confidence that we will achieve the high quality of care we desire in Oldham.”