Ladyman’s Thanet

Did you know that Stroke is the third biggest killer in England, with 50,000 people dying from it each year, and a third of those people who recover being left with long-term disability? At any one time 1 in 5 acute hospital beds and 1 in 4 long term care beds are occupied by individuals who have had a Stroke and the condition not only has a devastating affect on its victims it also affects their families with over 300,000 people in England currently living with a disability or impairment as a result of an attack.

Yet we know that if just 10% more people received clot busting drugs early enough after suffering their Stroke then about 1000 people a year would either survive or be spared a major disability.

The Government has already done a huge amount to improve Stroke services. All major hospitals now have to have a Stroke Unit, clot busting drugs are now readily available and there has been a big improvement in after care. That said, we still need to go much, much further and the Government believes that up to 6,800 more deaths and cases of disability could be avoided and a further 1,600 Strokes could be averted through better preventative work.

That is why another £77 million has been committed over the next three years to develop innovative new approaches to delivering Stroke services and to support areas of poor performance. As part of this investment every local authority will receive a ring-fenced grant worth an average of £100,000 per year and, In addition, every Strategic Health Authority will receive £2.4 million over the next three years to invest in improvements.

This is money that can be used in the way that best suits local needs. Local authorities could use it for example to fund a specialist, social care focused, approach to supporting people affected by Stroke and their carers. Alternatively, they could use it for new counseling services to help survivors come to terms with the cognitive effects of Stroke or go towards vocational rehabilitation schemes to support survivors with disabilities who want to return to work.

Treating Stroke as an emergency saves lives, and so the NHS could use its share of this money to accelerate its response to Stroke. People can benefit from clot-busting drugs, but only if they get into hospital quickly, are seen by a specialist and scanned within three hours of feeling unwell.

We have made great strides with improving the treatment of Stroke, heart disease and cancer in recent years. But, despite the considerable gains in developing Stroke Units and falling mortality rates, there remains much to be done to bring Stroke services in line with those for cancer and heart disease. Let’s hope this extra money continues the drive forward.