Every second matters when a haemorrhage or clot disrupts blood flow to the brain and cells up there begin to die.

Known as a stroke, it will happen to one in four of us.

It is then a race against time, in which both the public and health professionals must play their part to maximise a stroke sufferer’s chances of returning home, relatively unscathed.

Each year, approximately 7,500 people in Ireland experience a stroke and an estimated 90,000 are living with disability and after-effects from the impact on their brain. However, stroke mortality has fallen from 19 per cent in 2008 to 11 per cent last year, thanks to improvements in how it is treated.

Ireland now has 22 dedicated stroke units, where specialised care saves lives, reduces disabilities and speeds recovery.

The Irish Times was recently invited on a walk-through at one of these units, in Tallaght University Hospital (TUH), Dublin, to highlight the steps in optimum stroke treatment.

Recognition

The chain of care needs to kick in the moment one side of a face droops; an arm loses power or speech becomes slurred or confused.

Other signs include the sudden onset of dizziness, blurred vision or severe headache. Only when somebody realises what is happening can a stroke sufferer start to receive help.

Public awareness campaigns have used the FAST acronym (Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, and Time to call for emergency help) to flag symptoms.

Ambulance

The second a stroke is suspected, call an ambulance, not your mother, pleads Prof Rónán Collins, consultant in geriatric and stroke medicine, as he stands at the entrance of the TUH emergency department (ED).

“Over half the patients do not get into hospital within three hours of their stroke,” he says.