Kilkenny’s St Luke’s Hospital tops list of mortality rates for stroke victims
By COLIN BARTLEY
ST LUKE’S Hospital has come out tops of an unwanted list – on mortality rates for common strokes.
The figures have been obtained from the annual report of the National Healthcare Quality Reporting System, 2019.
St Luke’s came out top of the list of mortality rates for people who have suffered ischaemic strokes or haemorrhagic stroke.
An ischemic stroke occurs when the blood flow to the brain is blocked, while a haemorrhagic stroke or brain haemorrhage occurs when blood spills into or around the brain and creates swelling and pressure, damaging cells and tissue in the brain.
St Luke’s recorded the highest mortality within 30 days of admission for ischemic strokes at 17.08 per 100 cases, 0ver twice the national average of 7.82.
Death rates for haemorrhagic stroke were at 40.79 per 100 case in St Luke’s. Only Naas General Hospital recorded a higher figure.
Over 7,000 people in Ireland are hospitalised following stroke each year and approximately 2,000 people die annually as a result of strokes.
There was far better news for the cardiology ward at St Luke’s which reported some of the lowest mortality figures in the country for heart attack victims.
The hospital’s mortality rates for heart attack victims was lower than the national average of 5.29 deaths per 100 patients.
Overall, mortality rates for stroke and heart attack victims have decreased year on year for the past 10 years, according to the report, but it concludes that higher than average mortality rates in hospitals should be investigated further.
