A new project to extend the amount of treatments a paramedic can deliver to a suspected stroke patient has been approved
Stroke patients in the North East will benefit from a new project to increase on-scene treatment.
North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has been given a financial boost of 72,000 to extend the amount of treatments a paramedic can deliver to a suspected stroke sufferer before arrival at hospital.
It is hoped that the 12-month clinical research will improve knowledge about stroke treatments through increasing opportunities for research during paramedic assessment and improving the transfer of information between ambulance and hospital records.
Paul Fell, consultant paramedic at NEAS said: This is great news for the patient and the paramedic profession, having access to the data and enhancing the paramedic training not only allows the paramedic to be more involved in the whole patient episode but will without doubt increase the paramedics knowledge around strokes and their evolving treatment of these cases.
NHS Medical Director Sir Bruce Keoghs Urgent and Emergency Care Review, published in January 2013, recommended that ambulance crews be supported to make their own independent interventions on stroke patients.
The new project is a collaboration between NEAS, Newcastle University Stroke Research Group, and North East healthcare technology company Digital Spark Ltd. It is being funded by the North East and North Cumbria Academic Health Science Network, a government body which works towards improving the care of patients using the NHS.
Chris Price, senior lecturer in stroke research at Newcastle University said: The Newcastle Stroke Research Group is delighted to be a partner in this programme, which will increase the number of patients that can take part in research when they have had a stroke.
This funding will allow us to continue our work in providing emergency treatment for stroke and improve how patients recover.
At present, once a paramedic has handed a patient over to a hospital, no further information is exchanged. Increasing the amount of feedback on what happened to a patient following their treatment helps refine a paramedics future work. The project also includes the development of a new training scheme for paramedics, incorporating studies on patient safety and clinical treatments.
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North East Ambulance Service gets funding boost to help improve care for stroke patients