For Sonia, under Option B…
An ambulance takes Sonia to Withybush Hospital, and she is taken directly to the Emergency Department for an assessment, followed by transfer for a CT scan. If a stroke is confirmed, thrombolysis treatment would be started while in the scanning department. Sonia will then be transferred to the 12/7 Stroke Unit (12 hours a day, seven days a week) in Withybush Hospital.
If Sonia hasn’t had a stroke, she will transfer back to Emergency Department for further tests.
If Sonia 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), she would be taken by ambulance 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), at Bristol and Cardiff.
Once the Bristol or Cardiff thrombectomy team assess Sonia is fit to be discharged from their care, she will be transferred to Withybush Hospital or directly home dependent on her recovery post thrombectomy.
If thrombectomy is not the right treatment for Sonia, then she will be taken to 12/7 Stroke Unit at Withybush Hospital (12 hours a day, seven days a week) for acute stroke treatment. Sonia may be able to be discharged home with support from the Early Supported Discharge and Community Integrated Stroke Team.