David Bowe from Portlaoise who suffered a stroke at 22. Picture: Mark Stedman
Stroke victims are being forced to pay privately for vital rehabilitation such as physiotherapy and speech and language therapy because services in the community are so poor.
The deficits in community care for sufferers of stroke, highlighted in a National Stroke Survivors Survey, found more than one-third are forced to fork out for rehabilitation once they leave hospital.
In addition, almost nine out of 10 are getting no psychological service and a third have no access to physiotherapy, according to the research carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF).
The survey findings, presented yesterday on day one of the IHFs two-day National Stroke Conference, outlined how half of stroke survivors have no access to speech and language therapy or occupational therapy in the community.
One stroke survivor, musician Dave Bowe, 27, told the conference that he received just 15 minutes of counselling despite the huge psychological impact of suffering a stroke at the age of 22.
I had a brief counselling session and that was it. I couldnt get any more. Luckily, I was able to pay for my own treatment, Mr Bowe said.
IHF head of advocacy, Chris Macey, said although stroke services in many hospitals had improved hugely in recent years and more lives were being saved, the research showed there had been no such improvement in community rehabilitation services crucial to a stroke survivors recovery.
The horrendous reality for many people is that whilst they know services like physiotherapy, speech and language therapy or counselling for the psychological impact of stroke could greatly improve their quality of life, they generally cant access these services, Mr Macey said.
And while the State was spending 557m a year on stroke services, the problem was the money was being invested in institutional care with just 7m spent on community rehab, Mr Macey said.
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Stroke victims forced to pay for rehab as services absent