Tomorrow is World Stroke Day (29 October 2022), and to celebrate we’re spreading the word about our new Integrated Community Stroke Service (ICSS) at Home, which launched this month across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
ICSS at Home aims to reduce the length of time that people are in hospital, by providing high quality rehabilitation in the place they call home, helping individuals achieve their personal goals.
The care is provided by a multidisciplinary team of therapists, registered nurses, assistant practitioners, rehabilitation support workers, administrators and voluntary sector Life After Stroke workers.
Our team support people from the day they are discharged from hospital or a rehabilitation unit, for as long as they have rehabilitation goals related to the stroke they have experienced. Support includes personal care and meal preparation, working side by side with individuals to support them in the best way possible.
We also provide advice and support to reduce the likelihood of further strokes and help people live well as they recover.
ICSS at Home forms part of a Healthier Together partnership programme across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire to improve outcomes for people affected by stroke across our region.
The service, which started as a pilot service in North Somerset earlier this year, is run in partnership with our voluntary sector partners, The Stroke Association and Bristol After Stroke.
Emma Richards, Clinical and Operational Lead for the Integrated Community Stroke Service at Sirona care & health, said: “Since ICSS at Home started as a pilot service earlier this year, our team have supported over 250 people to achieve their stroke-related rehabilitation goals in the comfort and safety of their own homes.
We are now providing this service across Bristol and South Gloucestershire too, and working closely with commissioners, hospital and voluntary sector partners, and local GPs, we look forward to helping more people to survive and thrive after stroke.”
Find out more about the wider changes in stroke services in BNSSG: Healthier Together’s website.
If you are a professional and have an enquiry about the service, contact sirona.communitystrokeservice@nhs.net.
If you experience new symptoms of stroke then phone 999. The main symptoms of a stroke can be remembered with the word ‘FAST’. Find out more here.
