Acute Stroke Unit at Bantry General Hospital wins Taoiseach Public Service Excellence Award

The Acute Stroke Unit at Bantry General Hospital (BGH) was one of the proud recipients of An Taoiseach’s Public Service Excellence Awards for 2012 at a special conference and reception in Dublin Castle this week.

The Taoiseach’s Public Service Excellence Awards aim to showcase and celebrate public service projects that make a particular difference to the way the citizen can avail of services. The Awards promote innovation and excellence. The creative use of resources and the development of new efficiencies are typical hallmarks of successful entries. 

The Acute Stroke Unit, which is the first of its kind in Cork and Kerry and one of the first such units in the country, admits more than 100 patients with acute stroke annually. The four bed specialist unit was set up in 2009 without any extra staff by reorganising existing resources within the hospital.

Welcoming the award, Dr. Brian Carey, Consultant Geriatrician, Bantry General Hospital said, “My colleagues and I are very proud to receive this award and welcome this significant acknowledgement of our work in BGH. Since the unit was established, it has led to substantially improved patient outcomes, reduced length of stay and enhanced patient access to multidisciplinary team members and CT scanning.  The unit now uses the most up-to-date protocols to deliver a high quality, evidence-based acute stroke service in a geographically challenging area. The care of patients in the Stroke Unit involves a team of health professionals includingnursing,speech and language therapy, medical, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and counseling and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their consistent dedication to the care of our patients”.

The acute stroke unit is located beside the Rehabilitation Unit to allow for a seamless transition between acute care and rehabilitation. In addition, there has been a hugely significant impact on patient length of stay. Despite a 13% increase in acute stroke admissions since the Unit was set up, the total number of beds days used by patients with acute stroke has declined by 35% (approximately 1,400 bed days) which is estimated to have saved €1.2m annually. In addition, the establishment of the unit aimed to improve the care of patients with acute stroke before and after admission by strengthening links with community services and streamlining the admission and discharge processes.

Teresa O’ Donovan, General Manager, Bantry General Hospital said, “Since its inception, the unithas facilitated the safe and efficient provision of thrombolysis, the potentially life saving clot-busting treatmentin acute stroke for the first time to a rural, isolated population.This treatment is so time-sensitive that if patients from the region had to travel to Cork city for it, they would arrive too late to receive it. 10% of patients received this clot-busting treatment at Bantry General Hospital in 2011, an outstanding achievement in a rural area, given that UK hospitals average rates are less than 5%”.

Commending the staff in Bantry General’s Acute Stroke Unit on winning the award, Mr. Pat Healy, Regional Director of Operations, HSE South said, “I want to extend my congratulations to all those involved and acknowledge this significant achievement. The Acute Stroke Unit in BGH is an excellent example of how staff continually strive for excellence and of the hard work, creativity and innovation I regularly witness when visiting services across the HSE South.”