Stroke survivor welcomes appointment of neurologist to MUH

A STROKE survivor from Ballinrobe has welcomed the appointment of a neurologist to Mayo University Hospital (MUH).

Delia Costello, who is calling for improved stroke services for the people of Mayo, has welcomed the appointment of a Consultant Neurologist and Specialist Nurse to MUH as part of a nationwide expansion of neurology services.

The positions in MUH were filled after confirmation of funding for five additional consultant neurologists in regional hospitals nationwide in the 2025 Budget.

Speaking to The Mayo News in an interview for World Stroke Day (October 29), Ms Costello said she was ‘delighted and excited for the people of Mayo’ to see a neurologist employed in the hospital.

Ms Costello was left unable to read, write or talk after she suffered four strokes in a short space of time in 2016. She has since regained the ability to talk, read and write and can walk with a cane.

During her recovery, Ms Costello had to rely heavily on support from her family and private physiotherapy due to the lack of stroke support services available through the public system in Mayo. She also availed of the services of Croí, the leading heart health charity in the west of Ireland.

“I look at Mayo and I don’t want to say ‘poor Mayo’ because I love Mayo, where we need to fight for services,” said Ms Costello.

“We have an awful lot of services on paper but when you go to look for them there’s a waiting list as long as whatever.”

She said that stroke patients ‘shouldn’t have the struggle’ to receive such services.

“They have gone through so much in the hospital, their families have gone through so much, because stroke just doesn’t affect the whole person, it affects the whole family; financially, as well as their wellbeing and everything else.”

Ms Costello suffered an extremely rare form of stroke known as Reversible Cerebral, Vasoconstriction Syndrome (RCVS).
She spent five months in hospital before returning home and undertook part of her rehabilitation.

Ms Costello said that Mayo should have a public day service for stroke victims outside of a hospital setting. Croí currently provide such services at their headquarters in Galway, but not in Mayo.

The 166-bed Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar provides physiotherapy and occupational therapy to both in-patients and out-patients.

Thirty-six of its beds are allocated to rehabilitation patients while the remainder are allocated to those in long-stay residential care. It also has a designated Day Care Centre which caters for an average of 40 patients per day.

“I don’t see the reason why people would have to go in and stay in a hospital setting after them being in a hospital setting for so long. If there was a day service that people can go, do their exercises and go home, do their rehab and go home,” she said.

“For me, what I would love to see is that Mayo would have the same services as Galway. I feel we deserve it we are entitled to it, we have paid our taxes.”