RESIDENTS in Knutsford and Holmes Chapel will be placed at hospitals up to an hour away from their homes after a new pathway for stroke patients was created that will 'improve outcomes and help provide better care and rehabilitation', according to health bosses.

Patients who have had a stroke within four hours while in Macclesfield Hospital’s catchment area are currently treated either at Macclesfield Hospital or two other hospitals classed as ‘hyper-acute’ stroke centres - Stepping Hill Hospital or the Royal Stoke Hospital.

Hyper-acute centres offer the best place to access new and upcoming treatment, along with the best expertise and experience to deal with the early phase of a stroke.

Which hospital people are taken to is currently decided by the patient’s location and both the time of day and day of the week that their symptoms are reported.

However, in the majority of cases, most patients who have gone to hyper-acute centres are returned to Macclesfield Hospital for ongoing treatment and rehabilitation once they are medically stable.

This is usually one to three days after their stroke.

From April, the system will change so all patients with new onset of stroke symptoms in the East Cheshire and Greater Manchester area will be taken for treatment at a hyper-acute stroke centre.

This will mean that, irrespective of the time or day of the week, all new onset stroke patients in Macclesfield Hospital’s catchment area will go to Stepping Hill, Salford Royal if they live in Knutsford or the Royal Stoke if they live in Holmes Chapel.

Dr John Hunter, East Cheshire NHS Trust’s interim medical director, said: “These changes are part of a carefully-planned gradual move towards centralised stroke services in the Greater Manchester area which began in 2010.

“The revised pathways reflect advancements in stroke care in recent years which mean that hyper-acute centres can offer patients cutting-edge treatment and techniques, together with a high degree of expertise and experience concentrated in one place.

“Ward 11 – Macclesfield Hospital’s renowned stroke unit – will continue to provide the same excellent care to local patients as it does now, however it will become even more focused on delivering rehabilitative care for patients in the days and weeks after their stroke.”

Currently, around 55 nurses work on Ward 11 across 24 inpatient beds. It deals with between 300 and 350 new stroke cases per year. Staff on the ward work closely with professionals from the Stroke Association who help care for and support stroke survivors up to a year after discharge, helping them return to normal life.

The treatment of Eastern Cheshire patients who have suffered a stroke will be paid for by NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which plans and buys secondary care health services for 204,000 people.

CCG chair Dr Paul Bowen added: "The new, improved service will cost the CCG an extra £188,000 a year plus a £66,000 annual cost for additional ambulance journeys but we think it’s worth every penny because of the difference it will make to patients’ lives."