Report of the Integrated Stroke Care Workshop

The Stroke Project has been underway since October 2000. This workshop represented the first mechanism where by issues surrounding the project have been addressed by the multi- disciplinary stroke team and the Darent Valley Hospital Staff. Approximately 35 members of staff attended the workshop, demonstrating the high level of interest and ownership. Currently, the hospital receives an average eight or nine new stroke admissions a week. The turnover is such that patients suffering from stroke account for around 22-23 occupied beds in the acute hospital at any point in time. In the past the Acute Trust had had a lead Stroke Physician responsible for 20 designated stroke beds within a stroke unit. In that system many (but not all) cases of acute stroke admitted under the General Physicians would have been referred to the stroke unit and had their acute care and acute rehabilitation provided on site in that unit. At that time the overall number of beds occupied by cases of stroke was around 28- 29.