High-tech stroke technology, NSW Telestroke Service to save lives, braincells across Tamworth region

Moree, Armidale, Manning, Taree and Tamworth hospitals will get access to the aptly named ASAP tool.

The acute stroke assessment protocol links up local health employees with Sydney-based specialists.

As part of the new NSW Telestroke Service, local health staff will use the tool, plus Skype, to link up patients with Sydney-based doctors.

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Time is neurons in the immediate aftermath of a stroke, project officer Rebecca Considine said.

The telehealth service will allow the health system to expedite assessment of a patient with stroke symptoms, and help identify whether people can be treated locally or need to be transported to a larger hospital.

She said there are high hopes the new service will have a measurable impact on the cost of stroke across rural NSW, saving lives and permanent disability.

"We're striving for a decrease in our door-to-needle time and our door-to-scan time," she said.

"The quicker we get to it, the more braincells that we can save."

Hunter New England Executive Director Susan Heyman said about a third of the state's 20,000 strokes happen to patients in rural areas, and they can happen any time of day or night.

She said the new service would help back up rural GPs who are often the only doctors working in emergency rooms in smaller hospitals.

"Stroke patients across the New England North West region will now have access to a 24/7 service that will allow them to have early diagnosis and treatment, irrespective of where they are across our rural region," she said.

Tamworth hospital, which boasts two neurologists, Dr James Hughes and Dr Lisa Dark, has already received the new kit. It will serve the community while the local specialists are unavailable, either after hours or while on holiday.

Dr Hughes said the Tamworth hospital sees about 300 to 340 stroke patients every year.

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"They vary from a tingly arm to completely paralysed and unable to walk and talk to people, so they end up in a nursing home," he said.

"Clot dissolving treatment applied quickly, or clot retrieval where you pull the clot out, reduces disability significantly.

"It has a modest impact on life expectancy, but it has a huge impact on quality of life."

Stroke is becoming less common, but remains the leading cause of disability in adults, he said.

The investment is part of a $21.7 program, which will eventually cover every rural hospital in NSW.

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