Nottingham hospital stroke service saved my dad's life - and it's great it's now expanding

Kevin Freestone, 57, suffered a stroke while at home in West Hallam on the morning of October 17 2024.

An ambulance took Kevin to the Queen’s Medical Centre for a procedure called a mechanical thrombectomy – delivered within an hour of him arriving at A&E.

A mechanical thrombectomy is a minimally invasive procedure that removes blood clots from arteries in the brain through an incision into a person’s groin.

New evidence has shown it reduces the risk of long-term disability for stroke patients – if enacted quickly.

Today (November 13), the Interventional Radiology Department at QMC formally re-opened after £13.5 million was spent extending and renovating it.

The department currently runs Monday to Friday between 8am and 4pm, treating an average of 200 patients a year, but there are plans to open it as a 24/7 service in early 2025.

As Kevin’s stroke happened in the morning, the team at QMC could act quickly on the procedure.

Get the latest updates - follow us on our Facebook page

His son, James Freestone, said: “I think it’s a testament to the staff but also the machinery that they’ve got that he’s standing here with very little evidence of a stroke.

“The speed at which they brought him to this point was really impressive- they didn’t waste any time getting him to the right place.

“I probably took it for granted that it wasn’t 24/7, you just turn up and expect the service.

“I don’t think the outcome would have been the same if we didn’t have it there and at that time- we were lucky it happened in the morning because that’s when they start.”

Kevin’s recovery went well, as well as his mobility- although he sometimes gets confused with dates and times.

He said: “I’m walking, I’m doing most of the things that I normally do- except driving- I’ve recovered very well from how it was.

“I know what it’s like to be disabled, you don’t want anybody to help you, you want to do it yourself, but I know what it’s like on that side of things.

“This hospital really has saved me and my life and I’m not a burden to James or my family, so that saved me.”

With the department hoping to provide a 24/7 service in early 2025, the number of patients that could be treated could triple, with one doctor predicting between 450 and 600 cases could be dealt with annually.

Dr Sujit Nair, the department’s head of service, said: “It could be higher [than triple] because the criteria of accepting these patients are also changing.

“More and more patients are going to benefit because right now, any patient who has a stroke who are eligible for the treatment in the night time are not able to receive the treatment- by morning it’s too late.

“New evidence has shown, even if there is a little bit of brain to preserve, the patients are going to benefit from this treatment.”

Go beyond the story - sign up for our NottinghamWorld newsletter

Mechanical thrombectomy has a just under 50 per cent chance of helping someone regain independence, meaning the sooner it is performed the better chance of recovery and increased functional and mobile independence.

Responding to this statistic, Dr Nair added: “Once a patient has a stroke there is already damage- we want to limit that damage.

“It’s either a complete severe disability or death, so we want to avoid that- we want to give the patient back as much functional ability back and this treatment will allow us to do it- the statistics are actually in our favour.”

Dr Nair says the procedure can be performed within 45 minutes if a patient has come to the emergency department – it can be performed within as little as five to 10 minutes.

Vignesh Murali, deputy divisional general manager, says recruitment constraints have stalled the department’s opening of a 24/7 service.

He said: “We’re not in a position to open 24/7 because of various recruitment challenges that we’ve had and space capacity constraints- now we’ve got the space we are trying to ramp up our opening to 24/7.

“It’s great for the East Midlands region because as a major trauma centre, we get a bulk of the referrals for that treatment.”

Works took around 23 months and allowed for four theatres, separate recovery and procedure areas, two new machines which trace the locations of blood clots, an expanded vascular interventional radiology service and a new staff space.