Stroke facts

Stroke facts for East Sussex

2:52pm Thursday 19th March 2009 ARGUS

NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald and NHS Hastings and Rother welcome the report by the East Sussex Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee on local stroke services. (The Argus, March 18).

It provides valuable feedback which we can use to further improve the services on offer across the county.

Over 1,500 people in East Sussex suffered a stroke or mini-stroke (known as a TIA) in 2007/08.

Strokes can have a massive impact on the lives of people who suffer them, as well as their families and friends.

We want to give local people world-class stroke services which are co-ordinated, consistent across the county and high-quality.

To this end, we have recently launched our new East Sussex Stroke Strategy aimed at helping people to avoid having a stroke, as well as giving them more support and better treatment if they do suffer one.

This three-year plan has been developed after canvassing the views of patients, carers, members of the public and health and social care staff.

The new strategy will be focusing on ten key areas of development, including: l Raising awareness of stroke among the public, as well as health and social care staff l Preventing more strokes and TIAs by spotting the danger signs earlier, via GPs, for example l Rapid assessment and treatment of strokes and TIAs l High quality specialist rehabilitation l Long-term care and support.

By implementing new plans across the ten key areas, NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald and NHS Hastings and Rother will be able to prevent more strokes and TIAs, help people who have had a stroke to make better recoveries and enable people to receive care and support closer to their own homes.

Sarah Valentine, director of commissioning and primary care
NHS East Sussex Downs & Weald and NHS Hastings & Rother