Finding The Right Model Of Healthcare For Stroke Patients

Main Category: Stroke
Article Date: 26 Jan 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The University of Ulster has been awarded research funding of £266,431 from HPSSNI R&D Office to develop statistical models that could help provide cheaper and better care for stroke patients in hospital and at home.

The economic burden of stroke disease in the UK is huge, costing the country £7 billion per annum, £2.8 billion being in direct health costs. Add to this the volume of human suffering and it becomes clear that it is vital to find ways of managing stroke disease that cost less to the tax payer and are focussed on patient-centred care that is carried out throughout a patient's lifetime.

Research has indicated that some patterns of delivery of stroke care, such as Stroke Units and Early Supported Discharge Schemes can have a significant impact on mortality and dependency after stroke, and are likely to be cost effective. Modelling can assess where and how stroke patients should be treated. The models will include aspects of decision theory, costing and solutions using different treatments, care strategies and technologies.

Professor Sally McClean, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Ulster and Project Director, said: "We are very excited at this opportunity to use models to help provide cheaper and better care for stroke patients. Providing ways of supporting patients in their own homes is a win-win situation, costing less and benefitting the patients more".

The models will be used to underpin the development of methodology and computer tools for understanding and planning patient services. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the Belfast City Hospital Stroke Unit.

This study forms part of the larger UK based RIGHT (Research Into Global Healthcare Tools) project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). RIGHT is a £1.1M grant for research into modelling healthcare delivery processes.

It is a collaboration between the universities of Brunel, Cambridge, Cardiff, Southampton and Ulster and aims to develop a framework toolkit that will enable healthcare professionals and managers to select appropriate modelling and simulation methods to support their decision-making.

The RIGHT project is hosting a conference in Belfast to disseminate early findings and obtain input into the stroke modelling study from Northern Ireland healthcare and modelling experts.

The conference is being jointly organised by the University of Ulster MATCH (Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare) project, Director Professor Brian Meenan.

ULSTER UNIVERSITY
York Street
Belfast
BT15 1ED
http://www.ulst.ac.uk

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