What is Strokewatch?

Strokewatch is a self-help, consultative and watchdog body run by stroke survivors and carers. We offer a listening ear to all stroke survivors and we keep a close eye on how the new stroke service in Hull and the East Riding is developing. Through representation on stroke service working groups we are regularly consulted on the progress, operation and quality of the service, from the patient and carer point of view.

What is the Strokewatch vision?

Strokewatch's vision expresses its priorities for the treatment of stroke survivors:

¨ Every stroke is different.
¨ The stroke service should be fully accessible to every stroke survivor, regardless of age or disability.
¨ The stroke service should encourage and assist the recovery of everybody who survives a stroke, regardless of age or disability, to their maximum potential.

What are Strokewatch's aims?

¨ To support stroke patients in Hull and the East Riding, and their families, by listening to their experiences and providing user-friendly information about stroke and local stroke services.

¨ To keep a watch on the new stroke service in Hull and the East Riding, and to contribute user perspectives in the monitoring and review of the service.

¨ To gather feedback on the stroke service from patients and carers and to follow up queries, comments and concerns, thereby ensuring that user's stories contribute to the continuous improvement of the service.

Who are Strokewatch's members?

Strokewatch has over 200 members. Most of them are people who have survived a stroke. Strokes happen to people of any age; our members' ages range from 30 to 80. Many of our associate members are professionals who work in the stroke service. Our founder members in the OK Stroke Club set up a campaign group which later became Strokewatch, and which successfully lobbied from 1998 for the specialist stroke service for Hull and the East Riding which was launched in December 2000.

What does Strokewatch do?

Strokewatch has its own website - www.strokesurvivors.co.uk. We also issue a quarterly newsletter, The Stroke Survivor, and with the aid of a Lottery grant we published our very popular Stroke Survival Handbook. This handbook and our information leaflets and feedback forms are widely distributed in the stroke service and local health centres - e.g. our TIA (mini-stroke) leaflet was printed and distributed to all GPs and pharmacies by Hull and East Riding Health Authority.

Strokewatch is also regularly invited to provide patient and carer perspectives on stroke at healthcare staff training events and to nursing students at the University of Hull and diploma students at the University of York.

Our Stroke Patient Feedback Form is available in all twelve units of the stroke service in the area. This form invites patients and their families to give comments - whether good or not so good - on the care and treatment they have received and to express any concerns they might have about the service. Strokewatch collates these comments and passes them to the appropriate person in the service, thus enabling user experiences to contribute to the continuous improvement of the service.

Strokewatch has recently obtained donations to fund its Bookcase Project. We plan to provide a Strokewatch Bookcase in each of the twelve units of the stroke service, for the use of patients, their families and stroke service staff. The bookcases will be stocked with Strokewatch leaflets, Newsletters and other publications, as well as key books and tapes about stroke, leaflets from The Stroke Association, and useful information about other local services which support people who have had a stroke.

The recurring theme throughout our publications and website is the value of the mutual and moral support that stroke survivors can give each other by sharing and comparing their experiences. Supporting and encouraging the recovery of every stroke survivor to their maximum potential is our mission, and we continue to lobby for the services needed to maximise and sustain independence after stroke.

Who runs Strokewatch and how is it funded?

Strokewatch is run entirely by stroke survivors and some of their relatives, on a voluntary basis. All publications are written by our members. They reflect survivor and carer perspectives on stroke. All our activities are funded entirely by grants and donations.

Strokewatch Committee 2001-3
Brian Archibald (Chair)
Val Cobbett (Deputy Chair)
Dilys Page (Secretary)
Ted Carr (Treasurer)
Adrian Paddison
Kath Carr
Keith Henman.