Members of The College of Occupational Therapists’ Specialist Section for Neurological Practice, Professor Avril Drummond, and Karen Clements have been key to new guidelines on the treatment of stroke.
The guideline, published by the Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) Stroke Programme, calls for all patients to receive an urgent brain scan within 1 hour of being admitted to hospital, which is a major reduction in the time limit from the previous guidance of 12 hours. The guideline recommends that all acute stroke hospitals have access to brain scans 24 hours a day and calls for local stroke services to be organised to minimise the time to treatment for the maximum number of people.
The guideline also calls for a greater emphasis on the early rehabilitation of stroke patients in their own homes rather than in hospital, a more multidisciplinary approach to their recovery and longer-term rehabilitation, which supports the aims of the College of Occupational Therapists’ Improving lives, Saving Money Campaign.
Research analysed by the RCP's Stroke Programme indicates that early supported discharge with continued access to rehabilitation after leaving hospital can improve the outcome for stroke patients and provides the greatest potential for people to return to living independently after a stroke.
The new guidance also includes:
- advice on new stroke treatments such as clot removal (mechanical thrombectomy) and blood pressure management for an acute brain haemorrhage
- recommendations about the urgent treatment of suspected mini-stroke to improve prevention of a full stroke
- research-based guidance on the early mobilisation of stroke patients
- research-based guidance on the use of multidisciplinary teams to provide personalised care.
Professor Avril Drummond who is Chair of the UK Stroke Forum, and Fellow of the College of Occupational Therapists, commented:
"Rehabilitation is again a key area in the new guidelines which extends across the whole patient and carer pathway. We are particularly pleased that, in this edition, there is more recognition of the length of the journey and thus there are recommendations for enhancing life after stroke. The role of the occupational therapist remains central in the multidisciplinary team."
Dr Martin James, a stroke physician in Exeter and one of the editors of the new guideline, said:
"Stroke is a medical emergency and if outcomes for people with stroke are to be improved we need to minimise time delays in diagnosis and treatment. In recent years stroke care in the UK has improved dramatically. We have collected very good evidence that the earlier someone with a stroke gets specialist treatments then the better their chances of recovery.
We have also learnt just how cost effective treatments like clot-busting thrombolysis in hospital and early rehabilitation at home can be. With the NHS facing ever-increasing pressures on costs and hospital beds, we need to make sure we deliver treatments that help to get people with stroke back home living independently again."
