Lay summary
Stroke is a major cause of death and disability but can be averted through time critical reperfusion treatments. Urgent reperfusion treatment decision making is complex, yet timely expertise is difficult to access, especially at smaller regional hospitals. This project will measure the impact of deploying AI assisted rapid radiological brain scan interpretation on stroke intervention rates and preventable treatment delays across New Zealand Hospitals. The study will compare treatment rates and ‘door to treatment times’ six months before the tool is implemented with the same metrics six months after tool implementation. The project also includes a cost and feasibility analysis to inform future service planning. If successful, this tool is expected to result in an extra 850 New Zealanders accessing these critical treatments per year with a minimum short-term health sector savings of $5 million and projected longer-term societal savings of between $20-40 million per annum.