Stroke units are where you should be sent to within four hours of hospital admission for your initial care.
Our stroke clinical teams are spread across our stroke units on our four main hospital sites. This means our teams, which are small, are spread over a large geographical area.
Stroke services are currently provided at:
In 2023-2024 there were 792 stroke admissions across all our hospitals, this is approximately 16 per week. Approximately 30% of strokes were treated at Glangwili and Withybush hospitals and approximately 20% of strokes were treated at Bronglais and Prince Philip hospitals.
More serious strokes are transferred to thrombectomy centres, such as in Cardiff or Bristol.
Suspected stroke patients come into our care in several ways. This includes by:
Patients need a CT (computerised tomography) and/or CTA (computerised tomography angiography) scan in some cases. This is to identify if they have bleeding around the brain or if there is a blockage or closing of a blood vessel.
The initial assessment of suspected stroke patients is carried out by trained medical staff. An important part of the initial treatment for some stroke patients is thrombolysis. This is a treatment where a drug is given to a patient to break down blood clots and try to reestablish the blood supply to the brain. It is important for the thrombolysis treatment to be given as early as possible. The best outcomes are achieved for those patients who receive thrombolysis within three hours, although it can be given effectively after this up to four and half hours.
After admission to a stroke unit, patients are reviewed by a consultant. Once well enough, patients then receive multidisciplinary assessments, as well as intensive rehabilitation, as appropriate. Patients are discharged home in accordance with the severity of their stroke. The pace of their recovery can also be helped by Integrated Community Stroke Services. Integrated Community Stroke Services are being gradually developed in Hywel Dda to support stroke patients in the community, allowing for earlier discharge from hospital.