CT scan showing damage in the brain of a stroke victim.
image credit: rsucardiff.org.uk
Hospitals in Surrey, Abbotsford and New Westminster that are Fraser Health's designated centres to treat stroke victims have so far failed to provide optimum care for them and redirect too many of those patients to Vancouver instead.
That's one of the findings of a health ministry-ordered review of the health authority released earlier this month.
Many ischemic strokes can be effectively treated with clot-busting thrombolytic drugs, but time is of the essence patients need to get to to stroke specialists within three to four hours for the treatment to be useful.
Too often, the review report said, those patients are diverted to Vancouver General Hospital instead of designated Fraser hospitals, adding extra delay when they should be treated in the region as quickly as possible.
The report said Royal Columbian Hospital has the expertise to treat those stroke victims but "capacity issues in the RCH emergency department make this site reluctant to accept more patient volume."
Surrey Memorial Hospital's ER and neurology departments haven't embraced the use of thrombolytic drugs for stroke cases, it said, and Abbotsford Regional has made "some efforts" to meet its role as a designated site, but with "modest" results.
"This is poor patient care as it results in time delays to a treatment that is time-sensitive," the review said of transfers to Vancouver.
Redirecting Fraser stroke patients to VGH worsens congestion there and demand on ambulance transfers, the report said, and means those patients must be transported back to Fraser later.