South Australia’s lifesaving Telestroke service will be rolled out at the Royal Darwin Hospital – helping to save lives and improving health outcomes for stroke patients.

The South Australia (SA) Telestroke service is already operating across regional South Australia and Alice Springs, with neurologists based in Adelaide to provide fast consultation for patients with suspected stroke.

This is done using videoconferencing technology, combined with a cloud-based platform delivered in partnership with South Australia’s Rural Support Service (RSS), the Australian Stroke Alliance and Titan Neuroscience.

The announcement coincides with National Stroke Week.

Regional South Australians are 17% more likely to suffer a stroke compared with those living in metropolitan areas.

SA Telestroke service uses cloud-based platform Zeus to gather information about rural and regional patients, including brain scans, consultation records and other data into a single platform.

This means all data for people with suspected strokes is in one place, allowing neurologists to make better patient decisions quicker across 61 hospitals in regional South Australia, Alice Springs and now Darwin.

Every minute between diagnosis and treatment is vital to make sure further brain cells are not lost.

The SA Telestroke service has had more than 800 calls made to specialists in Adelaide since the implementation of the Zeus Telehealth Platform in February 2022, with 84 patients receiving thrombolysis treatment.

The Royal Darwin Hospital already provides 24/7 care for stroke, and joining the SA Telestroke network enables all patients with acute stroke needs to receive additional support through highly specialised care and expertise after-hours.

Rural Support Service Executive Director Debbie Martin said the technology developed by Titan Neuroscience in partnership with the Australian Stroke Alliance was saving lives and making a real difference to people across regional South Australia and the Northern Territory.