Five minutes of fame!

Stroke is this country’s third biggest killer and single largest cause of adult disability. In 2007, when the National Stroke Strategy was published, England was spending more on stroke care and getting worse outcomes than most other European countries.

A few months ago our Strategic Health Authority Cluster, NHS Midlands and East, launched a stroke review aimed at achieving a ‘step change’ in the quality of stroke services across the whole pathway of care (i.e. from prevention through to end of life care).

This review has attracted a flurry of media interest, firstly from the Health Service Journal, then two radio stations and more recently an approach from BBC East Midlands for an interview….YIKES!!

I’m very relieved to say however that, having made a couple of appearances on the BBC whilst in the crowd at Wimbledon, it seems I’ve already had my five minutes of fame with the journalist wanting to interview clinicians and patients - phew J

As such, Professor Philip Bath and Dawn Good, from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, stepped up to the mark and represented us on the news. Philip was a true media professional, and just like the Queen in her recent appearance with James Bond at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, only needed ‘one take and it was in the can’ while Dawn’s ‘piece to camera’ was superb and ‘a wrap.’ Huge thanks to them both.

As I had prepared three key messages, about the review, just in case I was needed, I thought I would share them here:

1)      We have some really good strokes services and fantastic clinicians in the East Midlands but there is always opportunity for further improvement: saving lives, reducing disability and improving patients’ experiences of care;

2)      We have already spent considerable time and energy over the last few years developing specialist hospital stroke services. So, for us, this review is about building on the work we’ve done to date and looking at opportunities for further improvement, for example in longer-term aspects of care as there are approximately 27,000 people in the East Midlands living the impact of stroke;

3)      This review keeps stroke in the spotlight as a priority locally, which is great as it enables us to go further, faster in delivering the best services possible for all our patients and their carers.

Further information on our stroke programme of improvement including Our Ambitions for Stroke Services 2012-2017 can be found on this website.