Thursday April 18, 2024
The Eastern Health Box Hill Stroke Unit is being internationally recognised for meeting the highest standards in stroke treatment and care.
The World Stroke Organization (WSO) Angels has awarded the hospital WSO Gold Status.
Eastern Health Stroke Neurologist, Philip Choi said the award is an honour for the entire team who are known for having the nation’s fastest door-to-needle time.
“We are delighted to achieve WSO Gold Status and be recognised for our ongoing efforts to provide the community with the best stroke care possible,” Dr Choi said.
“This award acknowledges our commitment to excellence and the can-do attitude from everyone in the Stroke Team.”
Eastern Health Acute Stroke Nurse, Tanya Frost highlighted the performance of the team at the Box Hill Campus.
“Our greatest strength is our front end; our door to needle time, which is the time that the patient presents until the time they get thrombolysis and our door in, door out time. We’re national leaders in both those times.
“We’re very proud to say that we’re the fastest in the country and are able to set that standard to ensure that patients receive excellent, prompt expert care, to aid the best possible recovery post stroke.”
“We know that what we do today makes a massive difference to the patient and how they recover from their stroke,” Ms Frost explained.
The performance of the Hospital’s stroke unit was assessed as part of the Angels Initiative’s awards. The awards are given according to a set of stroke care key performance indicators. For WSO Gold status, this includes a target of restoring blood-flow to the brain to more than 50 per cent of eligible patients within 60 minutes of their hospital arrival.
This year alone, Eastern Health Box Hill has treated 209 stroke patients.
To achieve WSO Gold status, a hospital must demonstrate a range of outcomes, including optimum time to treatment, coordinated care, appropriate scans and screening, and ensuring patients are discharged from hospital on medications to minimise the risk of further stroke.
The Angels initiative, a partnership between the World Stroke Organization, European Stroke Organisation and Boehringer Ingelheim.