Subject - Give Us Your Views on Stroke Services

ReplyPosted : (Wednesday 22nd August 2007 ) By - Val Bayliss-Brideaux (Unregistered User) “Real People, Real Lives”


Manchester Health Watchdog is working in partnership with Manchester Alliance for Community Care, Manchester Primary Care Trust, Manchester Adult Social Care, the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement and PPI Forums to produce a city-wide response to the Department of Health “A New Ambition for Stroke” consultation.
Members have already started work to gather views and experiences of Stroke services in Manchester and on the 4 aspects as identified in the consultation document, which are:


1. Time is Brain – Responding to a Stroke
It is vital that someone who has had a stroke gets the right treatment as quickly as possible. This section asks you to look at the recommendations made about dealing with a stroke and give your comments and views.


2. Recovering after a Stroke
We know that care from a specialist stroke unit is the most important way to help improve the beginning of someone’s life after a stroke.
This section asks you to look at the recommendations made going home after a stroke, getting help and support for life and leading a full life.


3. Working Together
We think that services need to work well together to give the best possible care, and to make the best use of available resources. This means that hospitals that provide different kinds of stroke services need to work together to give the patient the right sort of care, at the right time and quickly.
This section asks for your comments and views on the setting up of networks who would provide 24 hour specialist care, that everyone who works in stroke care should have the right skills and experience and that there should be minimum standards that all staff should meet.


4. Raising Awareness
Very few people know how to prevent strokes or how to recognise the symptoms. We think it is important to improve understanding of stroke among both professionals, such as doctors, nurses and social workers and the public.
This section asks for your comments and views on:
· the Government and local services should run campaigns to tell people about stroke and how to prevent it
· people who have had stroke should be given information to help them reduce the risk of a further stroke
· people with high factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes should have treatment to reduce the risk of stroke
· people who have had strokes, and their relatives and carers, should be given help for as long as they need it including – information, advice, emotional support and access to advocacy


The aim is to gather experiences, comments and view from as wide and as diversely as possible – this will allow the people of Manchester to have their say on how they believe Stroke services should be delivered locally.
You can share with us your experiences of Stroke services by completing a questionnaire or just give us your comments and views on one of the 4 sections above – it is up to you. There is also an easy access version available from the Forum Support Office below:
Interested? Then get in touch with Manchester Health Watchdog by:
Telephoning: 0161 214 3909 or 0161 214 3967
Writing to: MHW, FREEPOST NAT14073, 2nd Floor, Gaddum House, 6 Great Jackson Street, Manchester, M15 4AX
Email: val@blackhealthagency.org.uk
Or complete the full survey or your section of interest on-line at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5ehS1icnOxz0...