Stroke patients could be given a much greater chance of a full recovery with a new ambulance dedicated to treating the condition to be trialled in Melbourne.

The ambulance, which will have a CT scanner on board as well as a stroke nurse, radiographer and two paramedics, is the first of its kind in Australia.

The State Government said the $1.5 million ambulance would treat up to 3000 patients a year, and will operate within 20 kilometres of the Royal Melbourne Hospital for the next four years.

Paramedics will be able to use the CT scanner to send images of the patient’s brain from the ambulance back to a stroke neurologist at the hospital almost immediately.

A revolution for stroke care

Royal Melbourne Hospital’s director of neurology, Professor Stephen Davis, said the ambulance was a “revolution” in stroke care.

“This is the cutting edge. We’re moving the hospital to the patient,” he said.

“We can treat the patient faster. Every minute two million brain cells are lost, so it’s a race against time.”

Professor Davis said overseas studies showed that a stroke ambulance could save between 30 and 45 minutes in treating the patient.

The golden hour, the first 60 minutes is the key statistic.”

“We can only treat 2 or 3 per cent within the golden hour now, with this [the ambulance] we can treat up to 40 per cent,” he said.

“If we can get the patient early and we can dissolve the blood clot that’s causing the stroke, it can make the difference between someone ending up with severe paralysis or speech impairment requiring assistance for day-to-day living, versus someone that can go home.”

Stroke is the leading cause of disability in Australia, and one in six people in Victoria will have a stroke in their lifetime.

The condition causes more deaths than breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the Government would invest $7.5 million into the trial as part of its plan to improve ambulance response times.

“When it comes to the stroke ambulance, every second will save a brain and a life,” she said.

Quick response helped stroke sufferer

Iain Sim, 61, had a stroke while socialising at his local football club in Essendon.

He said if it was not for the quick thinking of those at the club, who identified he was showing stroke symptoms and called an ambulance, he was not sure how he would have fared.

“I went up and got a beer and came back and dropped it and that was the end of it,” he said.

“I couldn’t talk, couldn’t walk, couldn’t do anything. I was paralysed.”

Mr Sim was given treatment to break down a clot that had formed, which was retrieved through his groin, and he was out of hospital within two days.

“I’ve got no deficits at all, I get a bit tired every now and then but that’s about it,” he said.

“All the staff were amazed that you could get over it so quickly.

“It’s all about speed, without a doubt. If I was miles and miles away I don’t know what would have happened.”

The ambulance will operate from November 20.

-ABC