Understanding the experiences and multidimensional needs of people with major stroke: a mixed methods study. The prognosis of patients with total anterior circulation (TACS) strokes who survive to hospital discharge is as poor as many cancers, yet they are not included in palliative care registers in primary care. We are using serial qualitative interviews, with 30 patients (recruited from Glasgow and Edinburgh), and their informal and health care professionals at 4-8 weeks, 6 months and 12 months after the index stroke, to describe multidimensional illness trajectories, identify unmet care needs and determine whether, and when, a palliative care approach may be appropriate. Our data linkage study of TACS patients admitted to our stroke units (death, pattern and duration of subsequent hospital admissions) will put the qualitative data in context. If, as anticipated, we identify unmet need for palliative care, our data will inform the development and testing of an intervention to provide palliative care to stroke survivors who need it. Funder Chief Scientist Office Research team Gillian Mead, Scott Murray, Marilyn Kendall, Eileen Cowey, Mark Barber, Christine McAlpine, David Stott This article was published on 2024-09-24
