Life-saving 'Act Fast' campaign curtailed over cost

THE PROPORTION of stroke patients attending one west of Ireland hospital within the crucial three-hour timeframe almost quadrupled following the Act Fast public awareness campaign, new research shows.

The percentage of patients who received thrombolysis, the potentially life-saving clot-busting treatment, rose from just 3 per cent before the campaign to 11 per cent nine months after its launch, according to a study carried out at Sligo General Hospital (SGH).

Consultant geriatrician Dr Paula Hickey, lead physician in the SGH stoke service, said that there was no doubt the campaign had saved lives and crucially had also prevented disability.

But the research comes as the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) confirmed that the television campaign, which alerted viewers to warning signs for stroke, has been stalled for financial reasons and will be reduced next year.

“The results from Sligo hospital, showing that stroke patients are getting to hospital much more quickly, illustrate the significant impact the Act Fast message is having in saving the lives of stroke victims and sparing many more from disabilities so severe that they would spend the rest of their lives in institutionalised care,” according to IHF chief executive, Michael O’Shea.

But he pointed out that the foundation had to pay the State €115,000 in VAT on the cost of the campaign, and because of a projected funding shortfall next year, it will run for only the first quarter of 2012.

“Unfortunately, the current difficult economic environment and the reduced income of the Irish Heart Foundation – combined with the more than €115,000 paid to date in VAT by the foundation to undertake the advertising – has led to the regrettable decision to cease the Act Fast advertising campaign at present,” said Mr O’Shea.

He said that €350,000 had been allocated to the campaign this year, but the budget for 2012 was only €50,000. “The longer term outlook for the campaign is bleak,” he said.

It has been estimated that 100 lives have been saved since the “Act Fast” campaign was launched in May 2010 and the IHF said it would be impossible to put a figure on the number who had avoided disability and restricted mobility because family members recognised stroke symptoms and got them to hospital quickly.

“Ten thousand people will have a stroke in Ireland this year,” said Mr O’Shea. Research presented at SGH’s annual research conference demonstrated the profound influence patients can have on their own outcome or that of a loved one just by knowing the warning signs and calling an ambulance immediately, he said.

A study by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland showed that during the first phase of the Act Fast campaign, stroke-related hospital admissions increased by 87 per cent, with 59 per cent more patients getting to hospital in time to receive potentially life-saving thrombolysis treatment.

Dr Hickey said the Sligo results showed the influence the campaign had on the public, but also on hospital staff who also responded more quickly.

She said CT scans were carried out more urgently, while patients were also processed faster.

An estimated 200 stroke patients are treated annually at SGH, a 300-bed hospital serving a mainly rural-based catchment population of 100,000.

An audit carried out six weeks before the Act Fast campaign started showed that 14 per cent of stroke patients were arriving at the hospital within three hours of the onset of symptoms.

Nine months after the launch, this had risen to 31 per cent.

Dr Hickey said several relatives had told staff in the aftermath of the campaign: “I knew what was happening as I had seen it on TV.”

She added that it was important to continue the campaign as people would forget the message.