Yeovil Hospital to lose emergency stroke care services

Local people protested against the decision outside the board meeting in Yeovil

People who have had a stroke will no longer be taken to Yeovil District Hospital for emergency care.

NHS Somerset's Integrated Care Board (ICB) has voted to have a single emergency stroke unit for the county at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

The ICB said the move would lead to "better outcomes" for patients.

But a community group protested against the decision outside the board meeting in Yeovil earlier saying it will "cause harm to hundreds of people".

Yeovil District Hospital will keep 12 acute stroke beds where people can be cared for from 72 hours after a stroke, but will lose its four hyper-acute beds.

'Leading cause of death'

Emergency stroke services include brain scans and clot-busting drugs given as soon as possible after a stroke, as well as care given for the following 72 hours.

In future, anyone suffering from a suspected stroke will be taken by ambulance to Taunton or Dorchester instead.

Ray Tostevin, chair of the Quicksilver Community Group, said the decision was a "disaster".

"It's a bad idea. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death or permanent disability," he told BBC Radio Somerset.

"We should be investing in stroke care."

Yeovil District Hospital will lose its four hyper-acute stroke beds

NHS Somerset's business case said the change "would provide a larger and more sustainable specialist stroke workforce, which would enable faster decision making... leading to improved outcomes."

Robin Allan, a resident from Street, said he "owed his life" to the team at Yeovil Hospital following a stroke in 2018.

He was treated in the hyper-acute stroke unit (HASU) and said "care was excellent and could not have been better".

Mr Allan said he wrote to his local MP to object to the proposed closure of the HASU saying it would be "senseless and appalling for patients and their visitors".

Dr Bernie Marden, chief medical officer of NHS Somerset, had previously said: "This review focuses on creating safe and sustainable stroke services in Somerset with 24/7 emergency stroke care, and is not about saving money."

The changes will be phased over the coming 18 months.