Major deficiencies have been pinpointed in the care system for stroke patients in Irish hospitals amid claims that it is really a lottery as to whether victims get the specialist care required.
A survey of 136 hospital consultants across the State found that only 18 per cent of hospitals have a designated consultant physician with special responsibility for stroke patients and fewer than half the hospitals admitting stroke patients have on site CT brain-scanning equipment which has become a standard requirement for the study of stroke.
The survey also showed that no consultant-led rehabilitation unit was accessible to consultants in the North Eastern Health Board area while in the Eastern Health Board region only 26 per cent of consultants reported having access to such a service for younger patients.
About 6,000 people in the Republic suffer strokes every year, a figure which does not include those who suffer recurring strokes.
The study carried out last November and December documents for the first time the inadequate nature of hospital stroke care in the State.
Its authors recommend that each health board immediately review its services to include in every hospital a consultant physician with special responsibility for co-ordination and development of appropriately staffed and funded stroke services.
Dr Mark Delargy, consultant in rehabilitation medicine at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, who is one of the authors of the study, said improvements could be made which would reduce death and the need for subsequent institutional care.
He explained that victims of stroke were at present at risk of being admitted to hospital under somebody with expertise in a particular discipline who may not have expertise in newer forms of treatment for stroke.
"The options for the treatment in stroke have changed within the last decade and to ensure a process of investigation, assessment and treatment of the highest standards possible we need to have a person dedicated within the hospital to provide advice and guidance on how stroke should be managed," he said.
Ms Ann Copeland, chairwoman of the Volunteer Stroke Scheme, who was also involved in organising the survey, as was Dr Morgan Crowe, consultant geriatrician at St Vincent's Hospital, pointed out that people in rural areas were most likely to find it difficult to access specialist services.
"The care you get after onset of a stroke is really a lottery because there is no structured stroke care in this country," she said.
She added that once stroke patients got through the acute hospital phase of their treatment they were confronted with "real trouble" in trying to get into rehabilitation. "A lot of people come out of hospital and have absolutely nothing," she said.
She said there should be a rehabilitation unit in each province similar to the service in Dun Laoghaire.