MORE stroke patients are getting the care they need on a specialist stroke ward following dramatic improvements ahead of plans to create a centre for excellence at a Worcester hospital.

The Government says at least 80 per cent of all stroke patients should spend 90 per cent of their time on a stroke ward, a target which Worcestershire hospital bosses have consistently struggled to achieve.

The target is considered so important because stroke patients have a much better chance of avoiding long-term disability and death if they get this care.

But the trust hit the 80 per cent mark in May, reporting a figure of 81.2 per cent across the trust (52 out of 64 patients) – 85.19 per cent at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and 81.82 per cent at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester.

The dramatic improvements were discussed at a trust board meeting in Redditch.

Dr Charles Ashton, the trust’s medical director, said the results were down to better management of hospital beds and better emergency access which meant that specialist beds for stroke patients could be protected or ring-fenced.

The figure for stroke patients on a stroke ward was 73.31 per cent in 2011/12, 57.11 per cent in 2010/11 and 38.78 per cent in 2009/10, showing steady improvement.

Chris Tidman, the trust’s deputy chief executive and director of resources, said: “We achieved that national standard in May. That’s a much better position than we have been in in recent months.”

However, the proportion of patients who suffered a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), often called a mini-stroke, and received care within 24 hours was 51.61 per cent in May, below a national target of 60 per cent.

TIA care has so concerned NHS Worcestershire, which holds the purse strings, that it has issued a performance notice to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust ordering it to improve.

The trust also received a performance notice over the four-hour waiting time target for A&E, which eventually led to fines of £400,000 a month, although commissioners at NHS Worcestershire agreed to reinvest the fines in frontline care to protect the best interests of patients, effectively meaning no fines were being imposed.

Hospital bosses believe stroke care will improve still further following the centralisation of all acute stroke services at Worcestershire Royal Hospital within the next six months.

They hope the move will mean a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week service on a single site rather than a Monday to Friday service at Worcester and Redditch.

They also believe a single site would make it easier to recruit and retain specialist staff.

There are about 800 stroke cases in Worcestershire each year with 500 cared for at Worcester and 300 at Redditch.