How much rehabilitation are our patients with stroke receiving?

Stroke rehabilitation often needs to continue following discharge from hospital. The New Zealand Stroke Network recommends community team review within seven calendar days of discharge and a minimum of three hours of therapy per specialty per week. International stroke guidelines make similar recommendations. The Wellington Community Older Adults, Rehabilitation and Allied Health team aimed to determine current local community stroke rehabilitation practice and compare this to guideline recommendations.

A prospective cohort of 50 patients with a new diagnosis of stroke, referred to a community rehabilitation team in Wellington, were included in this service audit. The amount of rehabilitation patients received in the first four weeks and first three months following hospital discharge was measured, as well as time to first appointment. In addition, a service satisfaction questionnaire was sent to the patients.

The median (interquartile range, IQR) number of days from hospital discharge until first appointment with the community team was 10 (6.3-14.8) calendar days. In the first four weeks after hospital discharge, patients received from all health professionals an average (SD) of 1.1(0.4) rehabilitation sessions and 34.2 (43.6) minutes of rehabilitation per week. The average (SD) in the first three months or to point of discharge, whichever occurred first was 1.1 (1.1) sessions and 42.2 (49.3) minutes of rehabilitation per week.

There were delays in providing an initial community rehabilitation appointment and insufficient therapy intensity when comparing audit results to New Zealand Guideline expectations. As a result of this audit, recommendations for service improvements have been made.