Stroke units ‘could save 1,000 lives every year’

UP to 1,000 people who die in this country from stokes each year could be saved if there were enough specialist stroke unit beds in the health system.

Leading geriatrician Professor Declan Lyons led a two-year study into the first such unit to open here, whose patients were found to have a 16% better chance of survival than those treated in a general rehabilitation unit.

Yesterday, he told a press conference that half the 2,000 patients who die here every year from stroke, could be saved — by increasing the number of stroke unit beds in the system, from the 61 currently available to 200.

“With the required dedicated stroke unit beds, we could, every year, save nearly three times the number of people who die on our roads,” he said.

Of the 10,000 people who suffer strokes every year, more than 1,000 die within 24 hours and nearly 2,000 die within 12 months.

Professor Lyons study was carried out between September 2000 and August 2002, at the specialist stroke unit at St Camillus’s Hospital, in Limerick.

Opened in 2000, the stroke unit was the first of its kind in the country.

Professor Lyons comments back up an Irish Examiner report, published earlier this week, which said up to 1,000 people were dying needlessly from strokes every year due to a shortage of consultants to administer treatment.

Dr Peter Kelly, consultant neurologist and director of stroke services at Dublin’s Mater Hospital, called for the training of more consultants to run dedicated stroke units.

This position was supported by Prof Lyons, whose study that tracked the progress of 136 stroke victims at St Camillus’s Hospital, and 71 stroke patients at a sister facility in St Joseph’s Hospital, Ennis.

The research was carried out by Prof Lyons and Dr Tom Walsh, of the Health Service Mid-West and the University of Limerick.

Stroke is the third biggest killer here after heart disease and cancer, and stroke treatment accounts for 5% of the total health budget.

As well as higher survival rates, patients treated at the dedicated Limerick unit needed shorter hospital stays and showed higher rates of home discharge.

While stroke is more pronounced among older people, Prof Lyons said there was evidence that young people were suffering strokes due to cocaine use.

He added, however, “The base line is so low for strokes caused by cocaine, it is almost impossible to establish a trend.”

Prof Lyons said up to 800 people a year in the Mid-West suffer stroke, while an average of one stroke victim per day is treated at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.

A development programme is underway, meanwhile, to enlarge the dedicated stroke unit at St Camillus’s from six beds to 15.

The JP McManus Pro Am golf tournament raised €2 million for the new development, while an additional €6.5 million was sought from the HSE.

Prof Lyons said he was not happy with the resources being put into stroke treatment, but added that the Mid-West was better off than most places.

“Our study illustrates that the excellent results in stroke management... achieved in other developed countries can be replicated in Ireland if the commitment to effect change exists,” he added.

Asked about the availability of “clot-busting” emergency medication which can quickly halt most episodes of stroke, Prof Lyons noted that just 1% of Irish stoke victims could avail of the drug — because it has to be administered within three hours by a specialist.