Lincolnshire NHS 100 day stroke services challenge reaches halfway point

At the 50 day mark of the Lincolnshire NHS 100 day stroke services challenge,  teams, sponsors and supporters came together to review progress and plan for the next stage.

100 day challenges are intensive periods of action and collaboration whereby practitioners and stakeholders set ambitious goals, and develop and test creative solutions in real conditions.

Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS), United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Lincolnshire County Council, the Stroke Association and patients are working together to improve care for stroke patients.  

The teams are working to improve stroke patients’ experience from leaving hospital to care at home, which includes reducing the length of hospital stay and enabling people to live well in their communities.

Catherine Stamp, Advanced Speech and Language Therapist at LCHS said: “My team is helping patients to live well in their communities after surviving a stroke.

“Our pilot ‘Life After Stroke’ support group is next week and this is for people who have suffered strokes to be joined by health care professionals and the Stroke Association to get advice on self-management, healthy lifestyles and independence.” 

In the lead up to the 50 day review, a patient feedback session was held in Sleaford to gauge opinions on the content of the patient handbook that is being developed and to see how user-friendly the videos are on self-management and therapeutic exercises were for stroke patients. Valuable feedback was provided by patients to co-create service developments and improvements.

Tracy Pilcher, Director of Nursing, Allied Health Professionals and Operations at LCHS said: “As we reach the halfway point for this challenge, I am confident that the teams are making real progress which will positively impact stroke patients in Lincolnshire.”

The last review will be at 75 days later this month before the final evaluation at 100 days in January 2020.