Abathar Aladi
School of Medicine
Stroke Services: 7 days a week consultant role
The NHS classic model is five days/week health service with emergency cover only
out of hours. The outpatients and operating theatres are closed during the weekend,
where bottlenecks appear on Friday and Monday. Stroke is a seven day problem
that requires immediate treatment and rapid admission to a specialist stroke unit for
treatment even during weekends. Currently, consultant availability varies between
hospitals. Furthermore, many hospitals provide a non-resident, consultant –led on
call rota. Lack of cover out of hours was reported to have a negative impact on the
patient’s life. This project introduces a proposal to tackle these problems. It is
necessary to evaluate consultant’s availability and the number of patients admitted.
Additionally, it is important to answer the following questions: Are the NHS financial
circumstances compatible with the new process? Will it be possible to fund it?
Therefore, we discuss two options: to run a stroke unit as a full 7 days/week service
including urgent thrombolysis in the accident and emergency department. The
second is a stroke unit providing a 7 day service without thrombolytic treatment, but
with weekend ward rounds and patient care led by a stroke consultant. Costs, risks,
and benefits of both models will be discussed.
Postgraduate Conference 2016
Page 11