Active Projects

Technological and service innovation in stroke care

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the single largest cause of long-term severe disability in the UK. Yet there is a lack of integration between the many authorities, professionals and stakeholders involved in stroke care. And capacity pressures, a lack of out of hours cover and limited availability of clot-busting thrombolysis drugs are all recognised problems for both the acute phase of stroke care and during rehabilitation.

Project Facts

Start date: April 2010
End date: March 2012
Investigators Dr. Steffen Bayer; Professor James Barlow
Staff Employed Fram Fawaz (PhD student)
Status Active

Project Partners

MIT, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre / Harvard Medical School (Boston)

Project Partners

HaCIRIC
Imperial College Business School
Tanaka Building
South Kensington Campus
London SW7 2AZ
E: s.bayer(at)imperial(dot)ac(dot)uk

Innovation in stroke services is therefore needed. This requires careful consideration of the resources devoted to new and existing services, of service integration and the location where the services are offered. Choices need to be made between different care models, for example whether to provide regional specialist stroke centres for the acute phase or district general hospitals with specialist 24/7 facilities. Innovations such as telecare and telemedicine also have the potential to support the delivery of safe and efficient high quality stroke services.