A CONTROVERSIAL decision to move emergency stroke care out of Airedale Hospital has been hailed a success by health bosses.

But a patients' group has said it has heard about cases where people's care "hadn't been as it should be", and is keen to hear from more members of the public about their experiences.

A shortage of stroke consultants at Airedale General Hospital forced health chiefs to move two hyper acute stroke beds to Bradford Royal Infirmary last summer, amid fears patient safety could be compromised if they didn't act.

It means all stroke patients across the district are now cared for at five hyper acute beds at BRI in the crucial first 24 to 72 hours after a stroke.

Patients from Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven are then transferred to Airedale Hospital at Steeton for further care and rehabilitation.

But the change caused some to fear services at Airedale Hospital were being chipped away at, or that patients would have too far to travel to get urgent care.

Now, a new report by Helen Farmer, head of strategy at Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven clinical commissioning group (CCG), has called the change "a success".

So far, 99 patients who would have previously been treated at Airedale have instead been taken to Bradford, her report states.

It says health chiefs are "pleased with the implementation of the changes and the excellent care staff have continued to provide throughout the relocation", and that where issues had been brought to light by hospital staff or patients, they had been "resolved quickly and successfully".

It adds: "There have been no incidents reported concerning patient safety or quality of care, and every patient who presents late at the hospital for treatment is audited by the lead stroke consultant to determine if there are any lessons that can be learnt and the reasons why they may not have been able to access treatment in a timely manner."

However, a spokesman for Healthwatch told the Craven Herald they had been told about a small number of cases where the new system had fallen short, and had reported this to health bosses.

She said: "Healthwatch Bradford and District have picked up on some issues from the public in the past few months, where a small number of people’s experience of the new Hyper Acute Stroke Unit pathway hasn’t been as it should be.

"We have passed on these concerns to the hospitals and CCGs, who discussed them together with the strategic clinical network, and they have provided assurances these issues have been addressed."