Stroke Unit
The Stroke Unit at Dorset County Hospital is a 23-bedded facility. It has 18 beds for Acute Stroke and a five-bedded Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU). The HASU cares for newly admitted stroke patients or those needing extra monitoring or care. HASU incorporates specialist staff and monitoring equipment to provide urgent and lifesaving intervention over a 24-hour period. These interventions could help to reduce long-term disability and disablement in our patients.
The HASU team provide rapid assessment seven days a week. This ensures patients are assessed and managed by our specialist team, within hours after admission. Our Stroke Outreach team regularly communicate with Southwestern Ambulance Service to discuss potential stroke patients prior to arrival. This ensures we have a dedicated team ready to assess the patient.
The team consists of stroke nurses, stroke nurse practitioner, stroke consultants and specialist therapists who strive to ensure our patients receive the best possible care. Patients will receive specialist stroke therapy from our dedicated team throughout admission. For further rehabilitation patients may be transferred to the Yeatman Community Hospital. This comprises of a specialist stroke and neurological rehabilitation unit. The nursing team and therapists work together to help patients reach their rehabilitation goals and maintain as much independence as possible.
Future expansion
The Stroke Unit is expanding in 2025. We will becoming a larger 30 bedded unit including eight HASU beds.
Visiting guidance
Visiting times are 11am to 8pm, seven days a week.
Read more about our visiting guidance here.
Stroke information
Stroke Association – Finding strength through support
Stroke Association – Information and support
