Regional and national stroke care disparities unacceptable - Peter Black

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 22nd Apr 2009

Commenting on today's (Thursday) report from the Royal College of Physicians which reveals massive regional differences in stroke care across Wales and disparities in stroke emergency and care provision compared to England and Northern Ireland Peter Black, Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Minister said:

"It is shocking that, first of all, your chances of surviving a stroke and avoiding long term disability depend on where you live in Wales. Regional disparities between NHS Trusts in Wales should not be a factor in receiving decent stroke care.

"Secondly, what is even more unacceptable is that people in Wales are more at risk of suffering longer term disability than people in England and Northern Ireland because of a disparity in the quality of stroke care between nations.

"The report shows that some areas of stoke care in Wales have improved, however if improvements can be made in some areas, there is no reason why other services should have failed so miserably.

"While I fully support the government's latest multi-million pound publicity campaign urging stroke patients to get to a hospital quickly, this is fatally undermined if hospitals in Wales cannot provide the right treatment for stroke patients.

"Stroke is the major cause of disability in Wales. It kills three times as many women as breast cancer. Yet proper education about the symptoms and prompt action could avert many of those strokes. Equally, if a victim receives a scan within three hours of the stroke, followed by thrombolysis and supportive hyperacute care then not only will the survival rate increase markedly but many patients will also escape years of therapy and rehabilitation to recover their full range of faculties.

"I want the Health Minister to ensure that people who suffer a stoke are given treatment as soon as possible because speed is of the essence in dealing with stoke patients. This means bypassing the A&E ward to go to a stoke unit so that they receive thrombolysis treatment, which can provide significant benefits in terms of avoiding a longer term disability."

Notes:

Copy of report is attached.

From report:

Thrombolysis (clot-busting treatment)

Although increasing numbers of centres are providing a thrombolysis service, less

than 10% of appropriate patients are actually receiving the drug nationally. The

service developments, being driven by the need to deliver the National Stroke

Strategies, are likely to result in an increase in this percentage in coming years