EAST Lancashire Hospitals has transformed its ‘mini-stroke’ care and hit a national target for the first time.

The hospitals trust has struggled to achieve its government target of 60 per cent of Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) patients being seen within 24 hours since it was introduced a year ago.

Earlier this year just a third of people in East Lancs who suffered a mini-stroke were being seen and treated within 24 hours of referral by their GP, amid problems with the recruitment of specialists.

But last month the trust smashed this target, with 70per cent of TIA patients assessed on time.

It said nurses, doctors and managers in hospital and in the community ‘had pulled together to meet one of the NHS’s toughest targets’.

A TIA or mini-stroke is caused by a small, temporary loss of blood flow to the brain or spinal cord.

It can cause temporary loss of mobility, speech or sight, and while it does not cause the damage of a full stroke, it is often a warning that a patient is at risk of a full stroke.

New specialist nurses and changes in procedures have helped ensure TIA assessments can be carried out seven days a week.

Fast-track care plans have been introduced for TIA patients identified in emergency departments and urgent care centres and doctors’ rotas had been rearranged to open more appointment times.

Extra training has been given to staff to ensure all TIA patients are spotted at the first opportunity.

And new procedures for communicating with GPs have been introduced, with GPs encouraged to contact stroke nurses directly if their patient needs a TIA assessment.

Nicola Robinson, the trust’s matron for acute stroke and TIA, said: “There is a shortage of stroke consultants throughout the country.

“In East Lancashire, we have struggled to recruit a second stroke consultant, and in many hospitals this has been seen as a big barrier to meeting TIA targets.

"But we were determined to meet this standard because it could stop people dying or becoming severely disabled as a result of full strokes.”

Director of operations at the trust, Val Bertenshaw, said: “Hitting the 70per cent mark in June demonstrates that these new procedures are now fully embedded throughout the trust and means we have met the government target overall for the first quarter of 2010/11.”