Townsville stroke unit recognised for excellent patient care

Townsville University Hospital’s dedicated stroke unit has been recognised with an Excellence Award in the 2021 Quality Stroke Service Awards.

Townsville was one of 13 hospitals across Australia who received the Excellence Award for the delivery of quality, evidence-based stroke treatment and care.

Senior occupational therapist Ian Meade said this award was an acknowledgment of the expert care being provided by the dedicated stroke unit.

“Our number one goal and priority as a team is to deliver quality care to our patients and keep up-to-date with the best practices in stroke management,” Mr Meade said.

“It is a well-established fact that patients who receive care in an acute stroke unit recover better thanks to the multi-disciplinary approach that enables us to manage both the stroke and prevent secondary complications post-stroke.

“This award is recognition that our evidence-based care is improving health outcomes for patients, their families and the wider community and we’re all incredibly proud to be a part of this team.”

Current stroke unit patient Dot Raleigh said the team had been wonderful, very caring, and incredibly deserving of the recognition for their work.

“They have teams for everything, if it’s not the speech it’s the physical side of things, and they’re such a nice group of people and on each occasion I’ve had to deal with them they’ve been wonderful,” Ms Raleigh said.

“I think what they do is quite a hard job, they have to be quite persevering with us because we’re all rather hopeless and helpless at this stage.

“They persist with us and do it all very kindly and caringly, it’s really quite a hard job and I certainly give them full marks in every department.”

Professor Dominique Cadilhac (Monash University), data custodian: Australian Stroke Clinical Registry & Australian Stroke Data Tool for the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health said it was wonderful to see so many hospitals recognised.

“It was encouraging to see a greater number of hospitals achieving excellence this year – 13 up from seven in 2020,” Professor Cadilhac said.

“That reflects an ongoing dedication to achieve the best outcomes for patients with stroke to help them survive and live healthy lives into the future. I congratulate the winning hospitals.”

Stroke Foundation chief executive officer Sharon McGowan said stroke is always a medical emergency, but it can be treated, and it can be beaten.

“We know that patients with stroke, who get to hospital quickly and are treated in dedicated stroke units, will have the best chance of survival, recovery and prevention of recurrent stroke.

“These hospitals are leading the way. It is particularly heartening to see so many regional hospitals achieving an Excellence Award this year.”