A partnership between the eight NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in South and Mid Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and North Derbyshire carried out a consultation into hyper acute stroke services.

To help us with our review of hyper acute stroke services, between January and April 2016, we asked you, patients and the public, what would matter to you if you or a loved one had a stroke. 

We proposed to change hyper acute stroke services to improve the experience of patients needing stroke care in Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

Hyper acute services are provided when you are cared for up to the first 72 hours after having a stroke when you need more specialist ‘critical’ care.

Our review concluded that we should consider reducing to two hyper acute stroke units.

This would mean that Barnsley and Rotherham hospitals would no longer provide hyper acute care for people who have had a stroke.

Please the see hyper acute services presentation. 

The results of the consultation will be presented to the Commissioners Working Together board who will make a decision. They will consider:

• All patient and public feedback
• The impact on access to services, including travel times
• The impact on quality and safety of the service

We expect a decision to be made in April 2017

Professor Graham Venables, former Consultant Neurologist and Clinical Advisor to Commissioners Working Together:

"By changing the way you receive care after having a stroke, we can make our services safer and of a higher quality whilst also reducing chances of living with a disability afterwards".

"At the moment, some of our stroke teams don’t treat as many patients as teams in other hospitals, meaning they have fewer opportunities to develop their skills and introduce new treatments – which could mean that in the future, some of our patients may not get the best care they deserve should they have a stroke. This, combined with a national shortage of specialist staff, means we need to act now and use our staff and facilities in a different way to make sure that everyone in our region has access to the best services and fast treatments after having a stroke".

"For some patients in Barnsley and Rotherham, this may mean being treated in a hospital that isn’t their local one for the first 72 hours – but it also means they will receive high quality specialist care and we have been working with our ambulance service colleagues to make sure that all patients will be taken to their next nearest hyper acute stroke service unit within the critical time of 45 minutes".

"After the first 72 hours of care, or sooner if medically possible, you will be transferred to your local stroke ward for the remainder of your care. Rehabilitation services, such as speech and language, physio and occupational therapies which help you get better once you’ve gone home from hospital, will also remain closer to where you live".

For more information, please see the attached documents. 

• Hyper acute stroke services presentation

• Consultation document
• Hyper acute stoke services infographic
• Easy read booklet
• Easy read answer booklet
• Youtube video