STROKE patients are receiving better and more efficient care from hospitals in Gwent through a number of new ways of working.

Over the last 12 months, local healthcare teams have worked with the All Wales Stroke Services Improvement Collaborative to improve patients' care in the first seven days following a stroke.

This includes making sure there is a rapid recognition of symptoms and emergency, specialist treatment available in properly equipped units and having appropriately trained staff.

These improvements have been announced today as part of World Stroke Day.

Staff at the two acute stroke units at Aneurin Bevan local health board have closely monitored how quickly they are able to provide assessments and treatments on a patient by patient basis.

The new ways of working have led to a number of improvements including faster admission of patients to the stroke unit, an increase in the number of people who are sat out of bed within three days of a stroke which assists their recovery, development of an outreach physiotherapy team assessing patients within 24 hours at the Royal Gwent Hospital, new speech and language sessions three times a week at the Royal Gwent Hospital and Nevill Hall Hospital and recruitment of extra stroke team members including weekends at these two hospitals.