NHS Somerset is undertaking a public consultation on the future of acute hospital-based stroke services in Somerset. The consultation runs from Monday 30 January 2023 for 12 weeks until midnight on Monday 24 April 2023. It is seeking the views of people on the future of hyper acute and acute stroke (the specialist hospital care people receive in the first few days and weeks after having a stroke) services in the county.
This issue is relevant to people in Dorset as there are related plans by Dorset County Hospital which have been approved, namely a £3M investment which will raise the status of DCH to one having a hyper acute unit.
The big difference is that all stroke patients are taken straight to an ITU for the first 72 hours and at the end of that period are moved to the acute ward and all being well from there to the therapy unit that’s been operating at the Yeatman since just before the pandemic struck.
This is a complex issue that you can follow further if you want to understand more about what it might mean to you. Dorset Council will be streaming a meeting of Dorset’s People and Health Scrutiny Committee on Thursday March 9th at 10am at which I am told the Somerset proposal is the first item on the agenda.