Portsmouth stroke recovery service to end as NHS moves to county-wide model

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The Portsmouth Stroke Recovery Service will not be recommissioned beyond March 2025, as the NHS shifts to a county-wide approach for stroke support.

The Stroke Association, which has run the service for 14 years, has supported over 2,000 stroke survivors in Portsmouth, helping to reduce hospital readmissions and providing crucial mental health support.

While Portsmouth City Council agreed to fund the service until March 31, 2025, responsibility for ongoing stroke support now falls to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB).

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The ICB said the service has played a key role in assisting residents, offering advice, signposting, and referrals. However, other organisations also provide similar services, including Different Strokes, HIVE Portsmouth, Age UK, and the Portsmouth Carers Service.

In 2024/25, the council’s Local Care team reviewed stroke services across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The review found significant variations in how services are structured and funded, largely due to NHS reforms before 2022.

Stroke recoveryStroke recovery
Stroke recovery | Getty

Cheryl Harding-Trestrail, head of local care, said: "Some people may perceive a difference in service depending on how they were using it originally.

"We’re going for a unified model to access the whole of the area, I have direct experience of it in the north of the patch and in Southampton and it works very well and integrates with NHS services—much more closely than the old model appeared to in Portsmouth.

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"We may go through a phase of change, some people don’t like change but I think this will be a positive development for our patients and residents."

James Roach, director of primary and local care, highlighted the need for a more connected service: "Key point is the integration in the service. In the past things have been quite siloed so this should be a lot more reactive and integrated. There’ll be no distinction between the services they access."

The Stroke Association are being asked to provide ongoing, personalised services including one-on-one sessions, group workshops, and vocational support to help survivors return to work.

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