Alice Springs Hospital and Royal Darwin Hospital are among 15 health services across the country to be awarded a major funding boost, helping their stroke units deliver faster treatment and better outcomes for patients.
Both hospitals will receive up to $90,000 from the Australian Stroke Alliance for a full-time Stroke Data Support Officer. The new role will collect and analyse the hospitals' stroke care data, ensuring their services are complying with national guidelines.
Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Dr Lisa Murphy, says this will go a long way to enhance the efficiency of the hospitals' stroke care processes and further improve patient outcomes.
"This is an exciting and crucial addition to Alice Springs Hospital and Royal Darwin Hospital, ensuring the hard-working stroke teams continue to meet and maintain a high quality of stroke care. There is no doubt this will save lives and reduce stroke-related disability."
The funding boost is part of the National 30/60/90 Stroke Targets, a united effort from stroke leaders across the country to ensure Australians receive faster, world-class stroke care when every minute matters.
Around 46,000 Australians of all ages experience a stroke every year. International best practice is to deliver clot-busting treatment within 60 minutes of hospital arrival. While 68 per cent of patients meet this target in the United States and 61 per cent in the United Kingdom, Australia lags behind at just 32 per cent.
"The longer stroke is left untreated, the more brain tissue is irreparably damaged, reducing the chances of survival or recovery. Australian stroke patients deserve better and this funding, along with the other work of the National Stroke Targets team, is going to deliver that," Dr Murphy said.
The 30/60/90 National Stroke Targets include:
• National median endovascular clot retrieval door-to-puncture time <30mins for transfers.
• National median thrombolysis door-to-needle time <60mins.
• National median door in door out time for endovascular clot retrieval <60mins.
• National median endovascular clot retrieval door-to-puncture time <90mins for primary presenters.
• Certified stroke unit care provided to >90% of patients with primary stroke diagnosis.
"This is an exciting step towards achieving the stroke targets and supporting stroke teams to provide best-practice, time-critical stroke care for their patients, to reduce avoidable stroke-related deaths and disability in Australia," Dr Murphy said.
National Stroke Targets is a partnership with the Australian Stroke Alliance with support from the Australian Government.
The targets are endorsed by the following organisations:
