What Are the Issues That Make Stroke Unit Treatment Cost Effective?
Until now a systematic assessment of costs arising from a stroke unit has not been performed. Supplied drugs and investigations are unlikely to be of major influence. Remedial therapy, such as physiotherapy or occupational therapy, may increase costs in stroke unit care. Staff costs and ‘hotel’ costs account for the majority of costs. They strongly depend upon hospital structure and organization. Treatment in specialized stroke units shortens the overall hospitalization time. Further, more patients can be discharged to their homes compared to those patients treated in general wards. Therefore, it may be postulated that in a long-term perspective costs for stroke unit care are lower. The costs for the acute phase of stroke treatment may be higher, when therapy is given by neurologists, but this might be outweighed by the above mentioned arguments [Mitchell et al., 1996]. It will be much more difficult to estimate community costs, as by higher attention and recognition of stroke, costs w
