Stroke Services

Service Users and Carers felt there was inadequate long term support and experienced feelings of isolation and vulnerability. Inadequate support for people who experience communication difficulties as a direct result of stroke was also highlighted as a gap in services and our strategy recognises the vital elements of support that are required for people longer term to ensure they achieve optimum recovery.

Stroke Co-ordinators

As part of the National Stroke Strategy, Dorset County Council has been provided with a £104,000 grant every year for the next three years to develop ways of supporting people affected by stroke.

Three new Stroke Co-ordinator roles have been recruited in response to a recent consultation which identified that there is little long term support available for people affected by stroke. The two-year funded posts will be managed by the Stroke Association and form part of a joint, local health and social care stroke strategy.

The Co-ordinators will work within the communities across Dorset and in partnership with health, social care and the voluntary sector. Key areas of their work (similar to the POPP model) will include:

• Helping people affected by stroke lead normal lives within the community and
• Mapping support needed in an area
• Developing services to meet local need and priorities
• Stimulating community involvement, such as the recruitment of volunteers
• Raising awareness of services available
• Information, support and advice

Communication Support Programme

Funding has been agreed from the Stroke Grant to extend the contracted hours of one of the Co-ordinators to enable them to develop a volunteer programme that will provide communication support to people who continue to experience communication difficulties following their return into the community. The programme will be focused in the North Dorset and Isle of Purbeck areas initially and will be rolled out across the county over the coming 18 months.

The volunteer programme aims to recruit volunteers who will be provided with supervision, support and specialist training in stroke services and communication support. The volunteers will be supported by a Speech and Language Therapist who will be responsible for the joint assessment of the individual and defining individual goals and outcomes to be achieved.

Working in partnership with Service Users, Carers, the Stroke Co-ordinator and Speech and Language Therapy services, the volunteers will provide opportunities for;

• The practising of speech
• Communication skills
• Buddying  
• Support with aspects of daily living skills i.e. shopping, accessing transport, local support services etc.

The Communication Support Service will complement and enhance the Communication Plus pathway which is currently being piloted by the Stroke Association in partnership with the NHS. Communication Plus is a pathway for people who have aphasia as the result of a stroke. It aims to support people in retaining existing skills, and encouraging the use of new methods of communicating, thereby enabling maximum quality of life, confidence and re-integration into community life.

• Act F.A.S.T stroke campaign

  Act F.A.S.T. is a new national government campaign aimed at helping people to recognise the signs of stroke, and to save lives and reduce the damage caused.

• Stroke Co-ordinator - North Dorset
  Name: Tracie Palmer
  Email: tracie.palmer@stroke.org.uk
  Tel: 07506 607357
  Full details for Tracie Palmer
• Stroke Co-ordinator
  Name: Julie Stone
  Email: julie.stone@stroke.org.uk
  Tel: 01202 477093
  Mobile: 07506 607358
  Full details for Julie Stone
• Stroke Co-ordinator - South and South-West Dorset
  Name: Sally Chittick
  Email: sally.chittick@stroke.org.uk
  Tel: 07506 607359
  Full details for Sally Chittick