King’s Mill Stroke unit is world’s fastest

For the past five months King’s Mill has been conducting trials with hospitals around the world to streamline treatment of blockage stroke victims.

Figures show that from an ambulance picking up a patient to giving thrombolysis – a vital clot-busting treatment -the King’s Mill team is a world leader.

Dr Martin Cooper head of Stroke Services at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said: “After the patients entered into the trial we found we have the fastest door to needle time in the world.

The quicker the time the better chance the patient has of making a good recovery.

The service is provided by doctors and a dedicated team of staff who are highly skilled in all aspects of stroke care.

The consultant stroke physician said the record breaking performance was all down to team work and protocols developed at the hospital.

He said: “We now have a system that means ambulances contact us directly and a nurse is waiting at A&E department and a doctor waiting in specialist research.

“The practice nurse alerts the CT scanner to be ready.

“They are weighed accurately to calculate the dose of treatment and taken to have a CT scan to determine whether it is a stroke caused by blockage or by a bleed.

“If a patient is diagnosed with a blockage they are given an injection followed by a drip to thin their blood and break down the blockage

“Every minute the blockage is there the brain is being starved of oxygen and million of nerve cells are dying. The quicker it is treated the better.”

Trial times were measured from hospital arrival to treatment at 27 minutes at King’s Mill as opposed to just over one hour nationally.

And stroke patients can now be rushed to a hospital 24 hours a day for the life-saving treatment.

Since July the unit has been offering the treatment around the clock at King’s Mill and the hospital is able to offer the treatment to one in five of stroke patients.

Nationally the service is offered to one in 10 patients.

Dr Cooper said “ We are first in the world and this is great news for patients and their families and a tremendous boost for our hospital.”