Gosford Hospital achieves World Stroke Organisation Platinum status

Restoring blood flow to the brain within 60 minutes of a stroke is critical to a positive recovery. Read how Gosford Hospital has become one of only three in Australia recognised worldwide.

Across the Central Coast 408 people suffered a stroke last year with a further 6,812 people living with the effects having had a stroke.

But the good news is Gosford Hospital has become one of only three in Australia to be recognised with an international award for meeting the highest standards in treatment and care.

The hospital’s stroke unit has achieved the World Stroke Organisation’s Platinum Award status — making it just one of three Australian hospitals to receive the highest ranking — and comes shortly after it achieved Gold status.

It comes as new data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows 212 people in the Dobel electorate had a stroke for the first time last year while 3,539 were living with the effects of stroke.

A further 196 people had their first stroke in the Robertson electorate, which 3,273 were living with the effects.

Take a bow: Gosford Hospital’s stroke team (L-R) Lauren Wheeler, Gemma Walker, Samantha Dagasso, Dianne Livermore, Dr Bill O’Brien, Dr James Evans, Katie Ercan, Kim Malkin, Jade Edwards, Rhonda O’Neil and Elise Pendlebury. Picture: supplied

A partnership between the World Stroke Organisation and European Stroke Organisation, the award aims to optimise the standard of treatment in stroke centres worldwide and improve patient outcomes by setting global benchmarks for best practice in stroke care.

Gosford Hospital stroke lead, Dr James Evans, said the awards were recognition of the team approach taken to enhance stroke care and its use of data to continually improve.

“We are dedicated to continuously improving stroke care standards,” Dr Evans said.

“Our patient-centred approach involves the whole team — the emergency department, CT, the neurology team, including doctors, nurses, physio, speech, occupational therapists, social work and rehabilitation. It means everyone is focused on improving patient care.

“We have a dashboard of information we monitor daily, allowing us to look at a patient’s whole journey, from emergency through to recovery and rehabilitation.”

Gosford Hospital treats about 550 stroke patients a year, with up to 150 of these having brain bleeds.

Gosford Hospital treats about 150 people with brain bleeds a year. (File photo: generic)

Training, protocols and the hospital’s stroke unit performance were assessed as part of the initiative.

For Platinum status, the unit had to achieve a target of restoring blood flow to the brain to more than 75 per cent of eligible patients within 60 minutes of arrival.

Dr Bill O’Brien, who has been a neurologist at Gosford Hospital for 10 years, said the awards were the result of years of hard work.

“We’ve spent years creating and honing a truly integrated multidisciplinary team, one where everyone is equally valued and the focus is on using live data to achieve best practice outcomes for our patients,” Dr O’Brien said.

“It’s fantastic to see all of that hard work recognised through not one, but two global awards.”

Gosford Hospital has been recognised as a global leader in stroke treatment. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

To achieve Platinum status a hospital must show a range of outcomes, including optimum time to treatment, co-ordinated care, appropriate scans and screening, and ensuring discharged patients are on medications to minimise their risk of further stroke.

The initiative’s Medical Project Manager in Australia, Kim Malkin, said every step toward improving care and outcomes for stroke patients was worth celebrating, as there were approximately 38,000 stroke events across Australia each year or about 100 every day.

“To date, only a handful of Australian hospitals have achieved WSO Platinum status so Gosford Hospital should be immensely proud of this achievement,” Ms Malkin said.