Barwon Health’s Stroke Unit achieves international recognition

BARWON Health’s Stroke Unit has been internationally recognised for the quality of its treatment and care with World Stroke Organization (WSO) Angels platinum status.

The award operates on a tiered system – gold, platinum, diamond – and celebrates high-performing hospitals that consistently demonstrate a clear commitment to quality stroke care, with established systems in place to support continuous improvement.

Presented quarterly, the award benchmarks across several indicators, with much of the criteria focused on the speed at which patients in hospitals begin receiving treatment in emergency settings.

Barwon Health stroke co-ordinator Michelle Hiddleston said the team, based at University Hospital Geelong, had been working hard to enhance its processes and deliver better outcomes to its patients, the success of which had ultimately led to the award.

“The biggest thing we’re proud of is our collaboration as a team – it involves Ambulance Victoria, Emergency Department, medical imaging and stroke team.

“It’s definitely not a one-person show. We’re able to achieve this because of the hard work our emergency services do every day and also the amazing team that we have on the stroke unit.”

Ms Hiddleston said reaching these indicators, which include delivering hyperacute treatments to 100 per cent of patients within 60 minutes and treating a high percentage of patients within a dedicated stroke unit, had a significant impact on the stroke patients treated at the hospital.

“1.9 million brain cells die per minute before someone’s treated in a stroke and that means that rapid treatment improves patient outcomes – there’s strong evidence for that.

“The quicker that we can reperfuse that blood vessel that’s being blocked, the better the outcome for the patient and [the lesser the] risk of permanent damage and disability.”

The award now places Barwon Health’s Stroke Unit among a very small group of Australian healthcare providers to have achieved the same status.

“Being a regional centre, we don’t want to be [at] any disadvantage compared to metropolitan [centres],” Ms Hiddleston said.

“It’s about making sure that we are benchmarking with bigger services in Melbourne and making sure that the care that we’re providing our stroke patients is the same care that they would receive up in metropolitan centres.”

She said receiving the WSO Angels platinum status had further motivated the team, increasing the standard of care the unit expects from itself.

“The platinum award has motivated the team to keep striving to reach these benchmarks and making sure that we’re continually treating patients quickly and we’re providing them with stroke unit care, where possible.

“Our standards are quite high now and we strive to win many awards moving forward.”