During 2006/07, the ED at The Northern Hospital, Northern
Health (TNH) managed 265 patients with stroke:a their
average age was 71 years, 51% arrived by ambulance and
18% required an interpreter. The median ED length of stay
for admitted patients was 11.4 hours (IQR 7.9 - 14.3). Inpatient
data shows that during 2007 there were 172 separations
for acute stroke with a total of 1557 bed days and average
length of hospital stay of 9.1 days. The majority of patients (90%) were living at home prior to admission4 suggesting
reasonable functional status prior to stroke.