Berrington League of Friends held a variety of events, including coffee mornings, luncheons and plant sales to raise £4,208 for Ward 22S/R – the hospital’s Stroke Rehabilitation Unit – while the figure was also boosted by a £520 donation from St Eata’s Church at nearby Atcham.

The generous donation will go to the ward’s funds to pay for monitoring equipment for patients who have received thrombolysis treatment after having a stroke. It is the second piece of patient monitoring equipment for which the group has raised funds for in the past year.

A stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain may be blocked by a blood clot, causing damage to the brain. Thrombolysis treatment is designed to help improve symptoms by dissolving the clot to unblock the affected blood vessel. The equipment which will be bought following the donation will monitor patients who have received this treatment.

Members of Berrington League of Friends also visited the ward in the run-up to Christmas with presents for patients who were staying in over the festive period. The group has been visiting the ward with Christmas presents for more than 10 years.

Mrs Julie Adney, Chairman of Berrington League of Friends, said: “We are delighted to raise funds for the ward. We do enjoy tremendous support year after year. We have a regular band of people who give us such good support, without which we could do nothing.”

Mrs Judy Lloyd, Ward Manager for 22S/R, said: “Berrington League of Friends gave this unit more than £8,000 in support last year alone for our patients, which is magnificent. In Shropshire there are some confirmed 900 strokes a year.

“Treatment has been highlighted nationally with the Face-Arm-Speech-Time (FAST), which lists the main symptoms to look out for. This has really helped as patients are coming in quicker than before. Not every stroke patient is eligible for the treatment, and if used it will not work for everybody, but because people are more aware of what they need to look out for it means that people are getting essential treatment quickly.

“This patient monitoring equipment will help our patients who have had thrombolysis. I’d like to again thank Berrington League of Friends for their fantastic and generous support.”

Thrombolysis treatment must be done within four-and-a-half hours of the patient suffering a stroke (this reduces to three hours if the patient is over the age of 80) and it is imperative people get to hospital quickly if they have suffered the condition.