IHF and F.A.S.T.

The Irish Heart Foundation’s Stroke Action campaign aims to increase public and political awareness of stroke and the need for improved stroke services.

The Irish Heart Foundation is running this F.A.S.T. campaign to help people to recognise the signs of stroke so that when a stroke happens they can act F.A.S.T. We hope that our campaign will increase awareness of the signs of stroke by at least 50%. 

Until now, the lack of public awareness of the warning signs of stroke and the need to treat stroke as a medical emergency has lead to many people dying or being left with severe disabilities.

FAST campaigns in other countries have been hugely successful in increasing people’s awareness of the signs of stroke. In the UK, the campaign run by the Department of Health led to a 55% increase in stroke-related emergency calls.

Ireland is lagging way behind the UK on all aspects of stroke awareness. Research carried out for the Irish Heart Foundation by the Royal College of Physicians shows that:

• Less than 50% of Irish people would ring 999 if they thought they were having a stroke.
• Almost two-thirds cannot name more than one stroke warning sign.

Campaign Success!

To evaluate the first wave of advertising the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) conducted a study of the A&E admissions to Beaumont Hospital and Connolly Hospitals in Dublin.  Stroke-related admissions increased by 87% following the launch of the campaign.  This research also showed that 59% more stroke patients got to hospital in time to receive potentially life-saving thrombolysis treatment during the first phase of the campaign (May – July 2010).  The research to date shows that there was an 87.5% increase in hospital admissions among patients with facial droop, a 68% increase in those with weakness on one side and a 66% increase in cases of slurred speech during the campaign.
This research will continue until March 2011, providing a full 12 months of data collection which will provide a clearer picture of the lasting impact of the campaign.