As we work towards putting the new regional service and ways of working in place, we continue to work together as partners to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.
We are still working towards the implementation dates of 1 July (to cease hyper acute stroke services in Rotherham) and 1 October (to cease hyper acute stroke services in Barnsley) and are supporting each other across the network to make this happen.
At the end of March we advertised additional nursing and therapy roles to support our Sheffield hyper acute service in being able to care for additional patients – we received some excellent applications and the recruitment process is ongoing to make sure we have the support in place ready for “go-live” in July. Our Doncaster service is also now advertising for additional nursing and therapy staff to support our hyper acute and acute units there. All information is available on NHS Jobs for anyone who may be interested in applying.
When looking at changing the way we deliver hyper acute stroke services, we also said that we needed to make sure we had enough medical staff (stroke consultants) to work across our units and we are currently advertising for a stroke consultant to work jointly between the Rotherham Acute Stroke Unit and the Sheffield Hyper Acute Stroke Unit. Working across the two sites and units will allow the consultant appointed to continue using their skills and expertise in both an acute and hyper acute setting as part of the regional, networked service.
Further roles will soon be available in our other hyper acute and acute stroke units as we develop.
A key part of making sure our new service is successful relies on the transport and transfer of our patients. As such, we have arranged two learning events for our paramedic colleagues from across the region (from both the Yorkshire and East Midlands Ambulance Services) which will take place in June. If you are a paramedic and would like to find out more and attend, please get in touch via helloworkingtogether@nhs.net.
As mentioned last month, having already been informed by clinicians, we’re working with patients, stroke survivors and members of the public to develop patient information materials for anyone in our region who has a stroke and is cared for by our regional service. This includes the development of aphasia-friendly materials for those whose speech and language are affected by stroke. If you would like to be involved in this, please get in touch with sophie.jones25@nhs.net
Being able to make these important changes to how we deliver hyper acute stroke service is thanks to the continued hard work and commitment shown by those working in our services to ensure the best possible care for our patients.
We will be issuing monthly updates but if you would like more information on any of the above, please get in touch at helloworkingtogether@nhs.net