People who suffer a stroke could have further to travel to hospital if health bosses decide to reduce the number of treatment units. Plans are being drawn up to tackle a huge increase in demand for stroke services as part of a five-year plan for NHS and social care services. Currently, hospitals in Bradford, Leeds, Calderdale, Harrogate and Wakefield each have a hyper-acute stroke unit, where people are looked after for the first 72 hours after a stroke. But the number of units could be reduced as part of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), designed to tackle a funding gap of more than £1bn-a-year by 2021.
People who suffer a stroke could have further to travel to hospital if health bosses decide to reduce the number of treatment units. Plans are being drawn up to tackle a huge increase in demand for stroke services as part of a five-year plan for NHS and social care services. Currently, hospitals in Bradford, Leeds, Calderdale, Harrogate and Wakefield each have a hyper-acute stroke unit, where people are looked after for the first 72 hours after a stroke. But the number of units could be reduced as part of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), designed to tackle a funding gap of more than £1bn-a-year by 2021. Health and social care organisations in 44 areas of England were told to draw up the controversial STP plans.
During the next few months the Express will be analysing the STP plan and revealing which services could be facing the axe. The official STP document said: “We currently have five hyper-acute stroke units in West Yorkshire and we know that this is not sustainable for the future.” A separate report last June suggested that the hyper-acute stoke (HAS) units at Calderdale and Harrogate hospitals could be axed because they were not treating as many patients as the others.
Full story in the Wakefield Express, 3 February 2017