Prehospital triage for stroke patients (PHOTONIC) (v1.0)

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    PreHOspital Triage for potential stroke patients: lessONs from systems Implemented in response to COVID19 (PHOTONIC)

  • IRAS ID

    307494

  • Contact name

    Angus Ramsay

  • Contact email

    angus.ramsay@ucl.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University College London

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 11 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the UK and worldwide. During the COVID19 pandemic, some parts of England introduced “prehospital video triage” services that let hospital-based stroke specialists use digital videoconferencing to communicate remotely with ambulance clinicians at the scene of 999 calls to assess suspected stroke patients. These services aim to ensure patients are taken to the most appropriate service (or stay home, if appropriate). However,
    This research aims to evaluate these prehospital triage services for suspected stroke patients, including effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, how these services are used in practice and staff and patient/carer and experiences of delivering and receiving these services.
    To explore how prehospital triage services for suspected stroke patients are used in practice, and patient/carer and staff experiences, we will conduct interviews and observations. We will interview patients, carers, staff involved in leading the service, staff involved in delivering the service and those involved in wider systems. We will conduct observations of assessments, meetings and training events.
    To explore the impact of these services and whether they are good value for money, we will use NHS data sets. We will compare performance before and after the introduction of the service and will compare areas that are using prehospital triage services to those who are not using prehospital triage services.
    This research is important as it will help us to find out if prehospital triage services for suspected stroke patients are effective, affordable, suitable and practical for both patients and healthcare professionals.

  • REC name

    West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    22/WM/0029

  • Date of REC Opinion

    11 Mar 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion