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  • FRUSTRATED: Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said progress on some aspects of the Stroke Action Plan had been delayed by budget constraints

    Northern Ireland stroke professionals praised for their ‘tireless’ work for patients

    More than 150 stroke professionals from across Northern Ireland came together to share insights on improving treatments for stroke patients.
    The Stroke Professionals Conference, hosted by the Stroke Association on Wednesday, brought together nurses, occupational therapists, consultants, physiotherapists and other specialists from across a range of stroke care.
    They heard the Health Minister

  • From left – Ciara Ferguson MLA, Nuala McAllister MLA, Alasdair O’Hara, Paula Bradshaw MLA, Kim Colhoun, Clodagh Dunlop, Paul McClean, Pam Tilson.

    Stroke survivors demand wider access to life-saving treatment

    Stroke survivors and campaigners have handed over a Stroke Association NI petition calling on the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to make the stroke treatment thrombectomy available 24/7 in Northern Ireland.
    The charity says it is vital that it is available for everyone who needs it no matter when they have their stroke.
    The revolutionary procedure – where clots are plucked from the brain – ca

  • Northern Ireland Health Minister Mike Nesbitt with Dr Niamh Kennedy, chair of the Stroke Association’s Northern Ireland advisory committee, and Alasdair O’Hara, the charity’s Northern Ireland Director

    Positive meeting with Northern Ireland Health Minister, but more urgency needed to make stroke a priority


    Stroke Association Northern Ireland Director Alasdair O’Hara and Dr Niamh Kennedy, chair of the charity’s Northern Ireland advisory committee, met with Northern Ireland Health Minister Mike Nesbitt and representatives from the Department of Health today to discuss the key issues affecting stroke survivors and carers.

    These are:
    The need to make thrombectomy available 24/7 for every

  • Tango passion: Vincent Simone and Victoria Martin will star at a fundraising ball for the Stroke Association

    Strictly star Vincent Simone will dance in Belfast to support stroke survivors

    Vincent Simone, World champion dancer and star of TV’s Strictly Come Dancing, will be dancing with partner Victoria Martin at a charity ball in aid for the Stroke Association in Belfast on Saturday (27 April).
    Victoria, a professional dancer from Newtownards whose career almost ended when she had a stroke, invited Vincent to headline with her at the Ceroc Ignite Spring Ball at the Titanic Hote

  • On the road again: Jeremy Johnston back behind the wheel of his VW Golf GTD

    Little-known rule offers hope of driving for stroke survivors who lose peripheral vision

    Jeremy Johnston was devastated when hemianopia – the loss of peripheral vision after his stroke – meant that he was no longer able to drive.
    For four years he had to accept this, but thanks to twitter exchanges with former Australian rugby captain Michael Lynagh and a Liverpool University orthoptist, then a chance encounter with a stroke specialist in a Bulgarian ski resort, he’s back behind t

  • Team Effort: Staff from the Stroke Association and Altnagelvin Hospital at the launch event.

    Altnagelvin Hospital patients now better informed about rebuilding their life after stroke

    Stroke patients and their families at Altnagelvin Hospital now have access to a wide range of essential information to help them rebuild their lives, thanks to an initiative by the Stroke Association and Western Health and Social Care Trust.
    Stroke changes lives in a moment and can leave stroke survivors and their families frightened and confused about how they can face the challenges ahead.

  • Personal plea: Stroke survivor Jeremy Johnston says better early interventions would lead to better outcomes and save money

    Northern Ireland stroke patients “badly let down” by lack of progress on Action Plan 

    Stroke patients in Northern Ireland are being badly let down by continuing delays in creating centres of excellence for stroke care, says the Stroke Association.

    One year on from the launch of the Department of Health’s long-awaited Reshaping Stroke Care Action Plan, there are still no firm plans for the much-needed transformation of stroke services and development of ‘hyperacute stroke uni

  • Withdrawal of stroke services from Daisy Hill Hospital is extremely worrying

    The unplanned withdrawal of stroke services from Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, Northern Ireland, is extremely worrying.
    Alasdair O’Hara, the Stroke Association’s associate director for Northern Ireland, said: "It’s long been acknowledged that stroke services across Northern Ireland need transformed to improve outcomes for patients and create more sustainable, high-quality services.
    "Yet, d

  • WARNING OTHERS: Stroke survivor Paul Mclean with his wife Suzanne and son Lorcan

    County Down stroke survivor urges people to check for ‘silent condition’ which can cause serious strokes

    County Down stroke survivor urges people to check for ‘silent condition’ which can cause serious strokes
    A stroke survivor from County Down is backing a charity’s plea for people to carry out a simple test on themselves in case they have a ‘silent condition’ which could cause a serious stroke.
    Paul Mclean had atrial fibrillation or ‘AF’, where the heart beats with an irregular rhythm. When t

  • Stroke survivor Jessie McConkey from Coleraine shares how the Stroke Association's Speech and Language Therapy service in NI helped her to find her voice again following a stroke in 2019, left her without speech.

    The Stroke Association in Northern Ireland shares survey to mark Aphasia Awareness Month

    The fear of being unable to communicate has been laid bare in a new survey(i) of over 2,000 people across the UK. Research conducted by the Stroke Association reveals that nearly half of the respondents (41 %) can’t imagine living in a world where they couldn’t communicate. A world without communication is an everyday reality for the 350,000 stroke survivors across the UK (ii) like Jessie McConke

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