Telestroke medical equipment saving lives in Lancashire

Medical experts in the Lancashire and Cumbria cardiac and stroke network have said that the new medical equipment that sustains the Telestroke service will help around 40 stroke victims recover every year with minimal disability.

Telestroke was launched last July after being worked on for nearly three years, and is based on a £9 million contract with seven healthcare trusts across Lancashire. The Polycom ‘telecart’ – which features a mobile video conferencing unit – provides an out-of-hours link between specialist consultants and stroke patients, allowing the consultants to remotely examine patients in other medical facilities when they are unable to attend in person.

The senior stroke consultant at Blackpool Victoria hospital, Dr Mark O’Donnell, said that the degree of precision and accuracy in the video service is almost fine as being there in person.

He explained, “I can remotely control the camera at the patient’s end so that I can zoom in on particular features if I wish to, and particularly to see the movement of the eyes and facial muscles.”

Kathy Blacker, the director of Lancashire and Cumbria cardiac and stroke network, said. “We took the view that the best thing to do was to treat people in their local hospital if we could and virtually take the consultant to the bed, rather than bring the patient to the consultant.”

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