For Alun, under Option B…
An ambulance takes Alun to Prince Philip Hospital, and he is taken directly to the Acute Medical Assessment Unit for an assessment, before being transferred for a CT scan. Alun would then be transferred to the Stroke Unit 24/7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week). If Alun is a candidate for thrombolysis treatment this will be administered at the Acute Medical Assessment Unit.
If Alun hasn’t had a stroke, he will remain under the care of the medical team on the Acute Medical Assessment Unit at Prince Philip Hospital.
(*If patients self-present at the Minor Injuries Unit in Prince Philip Hospital, the staff activate the stroke call and will follow the same process as a patient arriving by ambulance.)
If Alun had a more serious stroke (with a large blood vessel occlusion, which is a type of stroke where blood flow to a main artery in the brain is interrupted) he would be taken by ambulance from Prince Philip Hospital, directly to the thrombectomy centre at Bristol or Cardiff. Thrombectomy can be used to treat these types of stroke. This care is provided regionally for Wales and south and western regions of England in Bristol and Cardiff.
Once the Bristol or Cardiff thrombectomy team assess Alun as fit to be discharged from their care, he will be transferred to Prince Philip Hospital or directly home dependent on his recovery post thrombectomy.
If thrombectomy is not the right treatment for Alun, then he will be transferred to the 24/7 Stroke Unit at Prince Philip Hospital, (24 hours a day, seven days a week) for stroke treatment. Alun may be able to be discharged home with support from the Early Supported Discharge and Community Integrated Stroke Team.