Stroke: The Challange Ahead

The Stroke Association is worried stroke services are not being improved quickly enough, and people are dying needlessly as a result. It has announced a series of Stroke: The Challenge Ahead information days across England, aimed at helping healthcare professionals meet the stroke care targets.

The National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People, published in 2001, declared that all hospitals in England would have a specialised stroke service by 2004. While some improvements have been made, The Stroke Association says much more needs to be accomplished. More hospitals now have stroke units, for instance, but the largest stroke care audit ever, conducted in 2002, found that almost 75% of patients do not get full access to these units during their hospital stay and miss out on this life-saving care.

"We are concerned about the slow progress being made in developing stroke services across the country and time is running out," said Margaret Goose, Chief Executive of The Stroke Association. " It is a postcode lottery at present. Some stroke patients get excellent care, but the majority do not get the speedy and specialised help they need. With better stroke care services everywhere, lives could be saved. Evidence has shown that people who receive care in an organised setting stand a 25% better chance of avoiding death or serious disability."

"The information days have been organised to help our NHS colleagues incorporate the requirements of the NSF as early as possible. The speakers will also provide stroke service practitioners with practical information on how to run high-quality stroke services."

Recognising the teamwork necessary to provide a specialised stroke service, speakers will include distinguished stroke professionals from medical, social services, rehabilitation and research backgrounds. They will be discussing topics such as involving consumers in stroke service redesign, developing a primary care based model and meeting the NSF stroke targets.

The Stroke: The Challenge Ahead information days, will be held in June and July (from 9.30am- 4pm) in the following cities:

- Manchester 4 June
- London 17June
- Birmingham 24 June
- Nottingham 1 July
- Winchester 10 July
- Leeds 15 July
- Exeter 24 July
- Cambridge 29 July

Two further days are planned for Wales in the autumn.



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For more information, please call the Press Office on 020 7566 1515/0328. Please note that we have ISDN.

Notes to editor

1. The charity is grateful to Merck Sharp & Dohme for helping to support the Stroke: The Challenge Ahead information days.

2. Pressure is building across the board for improvements to stroke care. The first All Party Parliamentary Group on Stroke is being launched on 2 July and over 124 MPs have now signed an Early Day Motion saying that the House 'notes with concern the continuing variation across the UK in the provision of and access to specialist services; believes that more should be done to prevent stroke and to treat those affected; supports the stroke standard and targets set for stroke care in the National Service Framework for Older People; and calls on the Government to take action to ensure that everyone who has a stroke has access to diagnostic services, is treated appropriately by a specialist stroke service and is able to participate in a multi-disciplinary programme of secondary prevention and rehabilitation'.

3. A stroke happens when the blood supply to the brain is disrupted. Most strokes occur when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood to the brain. Some strokes are caused by bleeding in or around the brain from a burst blood vessel. When the blood supply is disrupted, parts of the brain become damaged or destroyed. Some strokes are fatal whist others can cause permanent or temporary paralysis to one side of the body and loss of the ability to speak, read or write. Recovery may be slow and can vary from person to person.

4. Stroke is one of the biggest killers and the largest cause of disability in the UK. Around 130,000 people in the UK suffer a first stroke each year - about 13,000 are under the age of 55 and 1,000 are under the age of 30. One person every five minutes will suffer a first stroke.

5. The Stroke Association is the only national charity solely concerned with stroke across all age groups. It funds research into prevention, treatment, better methods of rehabilitation and helps stroke patients and their families directly through its community services. These include visiting services, dysphasia support, family support, an information service, welfare grants, publications and leaflets.

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