A new team at the Countess of Chester Hospital will be helping
to support World Stroke Day which takes place on Monday
29th October 2012 to raise awareness around Stroke
related illness.
Over the next six months, the Countess of Chester Hospital and
Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) are
jointly trialling the implementation of an Early Supported
Discharge Team (ESDT) in the treatment of people experiencing
Stroke.
The Early Supported Discharge Team has been set up in
partnership between the Countess and CWP and will be based at the
Countess of Chester Hospital and Ellesmere Port Hospital. The team
aims to support the discharge of Stroke patients with early
rehabilitation and therapy.
The team is led by Team Coordinator, Kellyann Lea - a Stroke
Specialist Speech and Language Therapist who has been involved in
providing early supported discharge provision since 2007 at the
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital Trust. The
team also provides Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Stroke
Specialist Nursing as well as support work to assist patients in
reaching their rehabilitation goals and care needs.
Kellyann said: "The early rehabilitation of Stroke patients at home following their care in hospital has become a national priority. The goals of the team centre around an increase in functional independence within a stroke patient's home environment, which could likely lead to a reduction in longer term dependency on social care, following a period of intensive rehabilitation."
To help promote this exciting new team, the Early Supported Discharge Team will be hosting a number of awareness events on World Stroke Day.
Stroke is a non-communicable disease that attacks 15 million people worldwide every year and claims a life every six seconds - but it can be beaten.
The World Stroke Campaign aims to disseminate essential life-saving information and share knowledge about actions and lifestyle behaviors that could avert the assault of stroke. The campaign will also identify opportunities to improve and educate the lay public on the fundamental need for appropriate and quality long-term care and support for stroke survivors, including the empowerment of stroke care-providers.
The following events will be taking place at the Countess of Chester Hospital on Monday 29th October from 10am-3pm at the main entrance area:
- The new Early Supported Discharge Team will be promoting the World Stroke Awareness campaign and will be providing information about their new team and service.
- The Stroke Association will be providing information about their organisation and stroke campaigns to the general public.
- The Stroke Research Team will be contributing a poster all about the Trust's involvement in stroke research.
- Nursing teams will be taking blood pressure readings and offering secondary prevention advice regarding hypertension.
- The Dietetics Department will be providing dietary information leaflets.
For further information about World Stroke Day, please visit: www.worldstrokecampaign.org/
For further information about the new Stroke Early Supported Discharge team contact Kellyann Lea on 01244 362834 or email: kellyann.lea@nhs.net.