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Hospital clashes with NHS over stroke care centres
Sophie Goodchild29 Apr 2009
A top London hospital is in dispute with NHS bosses over reforms in care for stroke patients in the capital.
Officials at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have attacked health chiefs over their choice of sites for pioneering stroke units.
At the heart of the row is the location of specialist "hyper-acute" centres which the Government hopes will save hundreds of lives a year. These units are subject to a public consultation which ends next week.
But the final plan could lead to two specialist stroke centres within just a mile of each other, at St Mary's in Paddington and at University College Hospital in Bloomsbury.
Critics warn this would mean some west London patients losing out on specialist care. Chelsea and Westminster foundation trust chief Heather Lawrence has written to 13,000 staff and patients calling into question the fairness of the consultation.
The trust is rallying members to back its own bid to become a stroke centre and stop centralisation. Stroke is the UK's third biggest killer, with more than 100,000 first-time sufferers a year. But patients in London face a postcode lottery over care, according to findings from the Royal College of Physicians.
New figures show nearly two thirds of stroke patients receive a brain scan within 24 hours after admission to hospital. But some hospitals are scanning as few as two in five patients within 24 hours. Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith is one of the eight preferred sites for the units. It was chosen over Chelsea and Westminster for its location and expertise. But the consultation smallprint says this unit may end up being located at St Mary's.
This is because St Mary's is bidding, separately, to become one of four specialist trauma centres in London which will treat victims with life-threatening injuries. If it wins this bid, the stroke unit could be relocated there instead of at Charing Cross, to create a "supercentre under one roof".
Chris Birch, from Chelsea and Westminster's members' council, said: "This calls into question why Charing Cross rather than Chelsea and Westminster, is the best location."
A spokesman for Healthcare for London said: "The proposal is for a stroke centre at Charing Cross Hospital and that is what the Joint Committee of PCTs will consider."
Reader views (1)
Minutes count when needing stroke services, 3.6 yrs of normal ageing is lost in every hour of waiting , 1,000 brain cells are lost per minute we are told. We must have 'priority' CT scans, diagnosis and treatment within minutes not hours. Time and distance really does matter. Every A&E department should supply this. The consequences otherwise mean loss of life , disabilities leading to expensive permenent nursing care or prolonged rehabilitation.
- Ivy, Cheshunt Herts, 09/05/2009 08:11
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