Stroke Medicine in the East of England

Recent advances in stroke have made it an exciting speciality in which to work. Advances in acute care such as thrombolysis have had a major impact on patient outcome and transformed the way stroke services operate with an increasing focus on hyperacute care. Organised stroke rehabilitation care has also been shown to markedly improve outcome and this has led to the widespread creation of specialist stroke recovery units. It is now recognised that transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs) and minor strokes are associated with a high early completed stroke risk and this has led to the widespread establishment of rapid access TIA services.

Stroke is increasingly managed in specialist stroke units by a multidisciplinary group of consultants with training in neurology, healthcare of the elderly and acute medicine.  In many parts of the country there has been a centralisation of stroke services with major centres hosting Regional Hyperacute Stroke Units, which provide the full range of services including intravenous thrombolysis and interventional neuro-radiological and neurosurgical procedures.