James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to going to Cork but I will have to get a passport from the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, before I set foot in Cork.

Cork University Hospital provides a full, comprehensive range of stroke related services, including neuro-radiology, which includes intra-arterial thrombolysis. In plain language that means administering a drug to break up a clot causing the blockage. Other services will include acute neurology and elderly care medicine. To enhance this service delivery further, the executive management board allocated a ward to provide a dedicated stroke unit. Funding was provided by the national clinical stroke programme to enable some infrastructural upgrade on the ward.

To develop further the multidisciplinary role within the stroke service in CUH, the clinical programme also provided the necessary funding to recruit the following staff: one full-time clinical nurse specialist for stroke care, a 0.5 whole-time equivalent speech and language therapist, and a 0.5 whole-time physiotherapist. I am advised by the HSE that the infrastructural upgrade of the ward has been completed and that the staff for the unit have been recruited. The hospital is putting the final measures in place to open the stroke unit which will provide 12 beds for the stroke service. The opening is scheduled for Monday, 10 March 2014.

The HSE national clinical care programmes provide a national, strategic and co-ordinated approach to a wide range of clinical services. The objective of the stroke clinical programme is to provide rapid access to high quality stroke services, to save lives and to prevent strokes. The Deputy may be interested to note that I prioritised an improvement in thrombolysis rates and a target was set to increase the rate of safe thrombolysis from 1% to 7.5% by the end of 2013. I am pleased to say the HSE has recently reported a national stroke thrombolysis rate of 10.5% for the third quarter of 2013, which exceeds targets and is comparable to rates internationally. I am informed Ireland has moved from the bottom of the European league table to the very top in an 18 month period. This is having a real impact on patient safety and quality of life. Access to safe stroke thrombolysis is provided in 23 hospitals throughout the country, 24 hours, seven days a week. Ambulance access protocols are also in place whereby acute stroke patients are taken to the nearest hospital providing around-the-clock thrombolysis.

This is what the health service is supposed to do which is delivering better outcomes for patients. This is a very clear example of how the men and women who work in our health service have achieved that.

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