City’s first stroke unit aims to tackle big killer

A major medical unit has been opened in Cork City to tackle strokes which, despite being preventable, kill more people every year than lung, bowel, and breast cancer combined.

The acute stroke unit, the first of its kind in the city, was opened yesterday at the Mercy University Hospital and aims to ensure the highest standards of care for those with the condition.

While patients were already being treated at MUH and Cork University Hospital, the designated five-bed unit will provide co-ordinated high-quality multidisciplinary care including physiological monitoring, neurological monitoring, and rapid treatment of strokes.

The hospital’s consultant in geriatric medicine and stroke physician Dr Kieran O’Connor, who heads the new unit, said properly tackling strokes would have “a huge personal and societal impact”.

“Until recently, many believed stroke was a disease for which little or nothing could be done. We now know that strokes are among the most preventable and treatable of all diseases.

“However, stroke still kills more people in Ireland than lung cancer, bowel cancer and breast cancer combined.

“Stroke unit care is still the single biggest factor that can improve a person’s outcome following a stroke. The provision of acute stroke units in hospitals reduces death and dependency rates by over 20%.”

Strokes occur when blood supply to the brain is interrupted by a blood clot.

The potential damage caused — which in some cases is fatal — can include paralysis on one side of the body and speech problems, and is potentially permanent.

Meanwhile, the first acute stroke unit set up in Cork and Kerry was in Bantry General Hospital in 2009. Since then, the specialist four-bed unit admitted more than 100 patients and was a recipient, last week, of one of the Taoiseach’s public service excellence awards for 2012.

A major HSE public awareness campaign, Fast, is in place across the country. It highlights the importance of acting quickly to diagnosis someone who has suffered a stroke. The campaign asks people to look out for signs of facial weakness, arm weakness, and speech problems to realise it is time to call emergency services to help treat someone for the condition.