Crucial Stroke support service in Portsmouth saved from closure after new funding was secured
A crucial Life After Stroke support service in Portsmouth has been saved from closure thanks to a new funding agreement between NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight and the Stroke Association.
The service, which has supported over 2,000 stroke survivors and their families in the last 16 years, had been set to shut down next month when funding from Portsmouth City Council comes to an end.
The newly agreed funding will enable survivors to receive Life After Stroke care that helps them regain their independence, links them with necessary NHS and other services, and works to prevent further strokes.
Starting from April 1 2025, NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight will commission the Stroke Association to deliver this service across the entire region, building on the success of a similar initiative already in place in other areas of Hampshire.
Garry Jopling, the Stroke Association’s service delivery lead for the Southwest and Channel Islands, said: “Thanks to the support of the local NHS, more than 3,500 people survive a stroke every year in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, but surviving a stroke is just the start of a long and sometimes lifelong recovery journey. Our specialist teams support stroke survivors and their families to find the strength and determination they need to find their way back to life.”
He continued: “We’re incredibly grateful that despite the extreme financial pressures facing the NHS, they are prioritising the need for support. It ends the inequitable situation where stroke survivors in some areas are offered support while in others they’re not.
“We will be talking with local health teams across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to agree how the service should be tailored to meet the needs of each community in the longer term.”
Cheryl Harding-Trestrail, NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s head of programme for local care, added: “NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight recognises the value of supporting stroke survivors and carers and providing the long-term support they may need.
“The Stroke Association support will ensure that once survivors have received acute care and rehabilitation, they receive Life After Stroke care supporting their independence, linking them into NHS and other care and assistance they need, and helping to prevent the risk of them having further strokes.”