Your stay will vary between 1 day and 4 weeks depending on individual needs.
You will be looked after by a team of the following stroke specialists who will be working together to provide holistic care and support during rehabilitation:
- Doctors
- Nurses
- Physiotherapists - “We create individualised exercise programs specifically catered to their needs. We provide mobility and transfer assessments using a variety of mediums. We work towards treatment goals together and work towards them.”
- Occupational therapists - “We work with you to improve your ability in carrying out your usual activities - sometimes known as activities of daily living”
- Speech and language therapists - “ We work with patients on both communication and swallowing”.
- Communication: We provide assessment and therapy for communication disorders such as aphasia, dysarthria, apraxia of speech and cognitive communication difficulties. We also help to facilitate meetings for others such as capacity assessments with the social workers.
- Swallow: We provide assessment and therapy for swallow disorders after stroke. We may recommend changes to diet and fluids in order to avoid chest infections and to make eating and drinking easier. We work closely with nursing and dietitian colleagues to ensure that patients are eating and drinking safely to meet their nutritional and hydration needs.
- Clinical psychologist - “a clinical neuropsychologist aids patients and explores the connection between thought and perception after a stroke“
- Dietician - “ We look after patients’ nutrition, assessing how we can optimise their dietary intake and provide nutritional support where needed in order to prevent malnutrition. We work closely with the speech and language therapists to help optimise the diet in keeping with the safety of their swallow.
Ward rounds - The medical team does daily ward rounds Mon - Fri.
Team meetings - The team of doctors, nurses and therapists meet daily to discuss urgent issues, and once a week to discuss your care and rehabilitation plan in detail.
Key workers
You will be allocated a key worker. Your key worker will
- Acts as a link between you, your family and the ward team.
- Provide information about your stroke and progress on the ward.
- Discuss any concerns you or your family may have, and arrange family meetings as necessary
- Ensure a smooth discharge from hospital.
- Write any important information regarding your care in the Stroke Guide located at the foot of your bed.
Due to patient confidentiality, we require the express agreement of the patient before sharing information with anyone. Please nominate one person (usually next of kin) as the main point of contact with our team.
