This week is National Stroke Week, which shines a spotlight on how to recognise the signs of stroke and save lives. It is also a fitting time to celebrate a significant achievement for the Stroke Unit at Northern Health.

In January 2024, the unit successfully underwent a detailed accreditation to become one of just 15 certified Stroke Units in Australia. Stroke Unit certification is a voluntary process that assesses units on the quality of care being delivered for people with stroke. It affirms excellence in governance systems, including local policy and procedures, in line with the Australian Commission of Safety and Quality in Healthcare Acute Stroke Standard Indicators.

According to the Australian Stroke Coalition, access to a stroke unit is proven to make the biggest overall difference to patient outcomes following stroke. It is the platform for stroke treatments, staff education, stroke data collection and quality improvement, and therefore is the most critical element of good stroke care.

Northern Health’s Acute Stroke Unit offers comprehensive services for stroke patients requiring intensive medical, nursing, and allied health care. Located on Ward 21 at Northern Hospital Epping, it is a Stroke High Dependency Unit, with stroke telemetry beds where patients post thrombolysis (clot buster therapy) are managed.

An interprofessional team with expertise in acute stroke and rehabilitation provide care work within the unit, with many staff holding post-graduate qualifications in stroke and neuroscience care. Over 400 patients are treated on the unit each year, and provided with ongoing, tailored education. This includes translated resources for the CALD community.

On Monday, 5 August, Dr Lisa Murphy, Stroke Foundation CEO, visited Northern Hospital Epping to present the Stroke Unit with a certificate and plaque in recognition of the recent accreditation by the Australian Stroke Coalition.

During this presentation, she praised the Northern Health team on their successful accreditation.

“A huge congratulations on this achievement. Your community is going to absolutely benefit from this,” said Dr Murphy.

“You should be really proud of the service you are delivering, and the team you have here. You can’t deliver a service like this without a fantastic team, so you should be very, very proud.”

A stroke is always a medical emergency, and the focus of National Stroke Week is ensuring the community knows the F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech and Time) signs of stroke so that they can save a life in the event of a loved one experiencing a stroke.

The Stroke Foundation recommends the F.A.S.T. test as an easy way to remember the most common signs of stroke:

• Face Check their face. Has their mouth drooped?
• Arms Can they lift both arms?
• Speech Is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?
• Time Is critical. If you see any of these signs call 000 straight away.

“We are always so impressed when family members tell us they used the F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech and Time) signs of stroke and knew that their loved one was having a stroke – and knew to call 000 really fast,” said Elizabeth Mackey and Anne Rodda, Stroke Nurse Practitioners.

“It makes a huge difference to what we can do to help someone with a stroke, if they get an ambulance to the Emergency Department fast.”