Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland is the largest Scottish health charity, working to help people with chest, heart and stroke conditions and Long Covid live life to the full. Our vision is to help ensure Scotland is a place where people with these conditions can live their lives well.
Our No Life Half Lived strategy 2023 – 2028 outlines our belief that every person with our conditions should have access to quality supported self-management and community recovery. We will deliver an approach to this that is designed by people with our conditions and puts what matters to them at the heart. We will work to develop the partnerships that will enable this to be available across Scotland.
We Are:
- A team of specialised registered Stroke Nurses and a healthcare support worker, specialising in stroke care. We support patients over 65yrs who have been given a stroke diagnosis
- The CHSS Stroke Nurses work closely with the wider NHS Fife Multidisciplinary Stroke Team.
How do we know that you have had a recent diagnosis of stroke?
The Stroke Nurse Service will receive a referral from the discharging ward, A&E or Admission Unit and you will be allocated a stroke nurse. The Stroke Nurse will then send you an appointment letter which will initially be for a telephone appointment, but we can offer you a home visit, Near Me video appointment for future contacts depending on your individual needs after the initial telephone appointment.
Your Stroke Nurse’s telephone and email contact details will be on the initial appointment letter in case the date/time is not suitable, and you require to change it, or you would like to speak with the Stroke Nurse prior to the appointment. The CHSS Advice Line contact number is also on the letter, 0808 801 0899 or adviceline@chss.org.uk. The Advice Line can offer immediate advice if you do not get an immediate response from your Stroke Nurse.
The Stroke Nurse will then contact you at the appointment time and will start the supported process as detailed below. Future appointments will be arranged jointly with yourself and your Stroke Nurse.
The aims of the stroke nurse service are:
- To facilitate a smooth transition back into the home and community following a recent diagnosis of stroke.
- To help people who have had a stroke, and their carers adjust to the changes resulting from stroke.
- To give advice, information and support, raise awareness of risk factors, encourage appropriate lifestyle changes, and help minimise the risks of further stroke. CHSS information publications on all four conditions can be accessed at www.chss.org.uk/resources-hub/
- To identify and solve problems and concerns – short, medium and long term.
- To facilitate reintegration to home and the community through person-centred care and an evidence-based approach to goal setting practice and supported self-management.
