The Stroke Foundation has called for cross-party support for the establishment of a national telestroke network building on the successful Victorian Stroke Telemedicine program and similar networks being rolled out in NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand.
Victoria has run its program since 2012-2013 following a grant of $7.3 million from the federal Health and Hospitals Fund, which equipped 16 hospitals in regional Victoria with specialist stroke telemedicine carts and software from German company Meytec.
Under a statewide protocol for responding to suspected stroke, patients are rapidly assessed and sent for a CT scan of the brain and a CT angiogram, with ED clinicians able to video conference in real time with neurologist in Melbourne. The clinicians can then quickly decide on treatment, whether it is transfer to Melbourne for endovascular clot retrieval or treatment with clot-busting thrombolysis.
