On Tuesday I paid a visit to the Acute Stroke Unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital. With its long-term future still in doubt, due to the need to meet Government targets of 24/7 acute stroke care across the country, which may lead Health Trusts to seek a concentration of services in regional centres, it was really good to be able to talk to the consultant and ward sister responsible for providing stroke care on the ward.
I'm assured active steps are being taken to recruit specialists to the unit, though there is, apparently, a shortage of stroke specialists across the country. The point was made that a stroke specialist would want to be able to concentrate his work in his specialism, which might mean seeking employment in a larger centre, rather than a small 8 bed unit like ours.
However, DMH does have a dedicated and well-trained nursing team, who moved en-bloc from Bishop Auckland when their acute centre closed, and also a strong research base, thanks to its senior consultant. So, perhaps we make up for in quality what we lack in size.
I had a press and public relations officer, a senior administrator, the consultant and sister all tied up looking after me, so I'd like to say thank you to them all for taking time out and being so helpful. It was a most interesting visit.
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