Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Irish Heart Foundation is a member of the Neurological Alliance and the foundation has been advocating on the need to develop stroke services across the country. Access to stroke unit care is estimated to reduce mortality and severe disability from strokes by approximately 25%. The Irish Heart Foundation, in conjunction with the HSE national stroke audit 2015, found that just 29% of stroke patients were admitted to a unit and only 52% spent any portion of their hospital stay in a dedicated stroke unit. In addition, almost one in four hospitals in Ireland treating stroke do not meet the minimum organisational standards required to operate a stroke unit. It also found that no hospital in Ireland meets minimum stroke unit staffing requirements set down by the European Stroke Organisation, with deficits of 30% in nursing, 50% for physiotherapists, 61% for occupational therapists, 69% for clinical nutritionists and 31% for speech and language therapists, while only 44% of hospitals have access to a medical social worker and only 19% have access to a neuropsychologist. By any stretch of the imagination what is required and what is provided are poles apart. There is now a need for us to bring forward the implementation plan of the strategy and to start resourcing and planning ahead in terms of the professional personnel that are needed. When one looks at the dearth of recruitment in those key areas it is clear that we are a long way off addressing what is outlined in the strategy. In planning ahead we must take into account the difficulties with recruitment and start the process of training, recruiting and retaining staff earlier than is currently the case. We have a habit of identifying the need, putting in place the services in terms of capital investment and then starting the recruitment process at the very end when they should be done in tandem with providing the services.

The Irish Heart Foundation estimates that approximately one in six stroke deaths could be prevented through the development of a comprehensive national stroke unit network capable of meeting similar targets, with similar reductions in permanent severe disability requiring nursing home care. That point has been highlighted by previous speakers and no doubt others will also bring it up. Many people with an acquired brain injury or stroke are in inappropriate settings. They are in nursing homes or in poor accommodation at home without the proper supports. We need to look at how we care for people, not only in the context of the immediate needs but the longer term care as well. Putting stroke victims into nursing homes without the proper supports and services does nobody a service. The rehabilitative, recuperative process is very much diminished and the impact on the individuals concerned is very negative. That has been highlighted consistently in all the reports that have been published. There are copious amounts of empirical evidence not only in Ireland but elsewhere that early intervention in terms of rehabilitation has very positive outcomes for stroke patients. I commend the motion to the House.

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