Doctors are extremely concerned at the acute shortage of specialist care units for stroke patients, a Dublin-based consultant cardiologist said yesterday, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent
Dr Brian Maurer, who is based at St Vincent's Hospital and is also president of the Irish Heart Foundation, said only 5 per cent of stroke patients in the Republic are treated in special stroke units compared with 70 per cent of patients in Northern Ireland.
"This is totally unsatisfactory," he said.
Prof Des O'Neill, a stroke specialist at Tallaght Hospital, said this was unfortunate, as care in a stroke unit reduces death and disability by 25 per cent. "It's an incredibly cost-effective way of dealing with stroke," he added.
He said only half the stroke patients who attend Tallaght Hospital can receive stroke unit care due to a lack of resources. "It's frustrating to stand by and watch what is being done when you know what can be done," he said.
He added that a review of stroke care was promised by the Department of Health in 1999 but there was still no sign of it. "We are deeply disappointed about this."
Dr Maurer also criticised the lack of rehabilitation units in the community for stroke patients.
There are over 30,000 people with residual disability from stroke in the State - one fifth of them unable to walk - and a lack of facilities is placing a huge burden on their families.
Each year up to 10,000 people, some of them very young, are admitted to hospitals in the Republic with an acute stroke. More than 7,000 will survive.
The specialists were speaking at the launch in Dublin of plans for the Irish Heart Foundation's annual fundraising campaign - Happy Heart Weekend - which runs from May 15th to 18th.