Stroke victims struggling to access treatment outside office hours

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Stroke victims struggling to access treatment outside office hours - MP

This image is from the NAO report into stroke care in England

Stroke victims can struggle to access
CT scans or clot-busting drugs at
evenings or weekends

Commenting on the publication of the National Audit Office’s report on progress in improving stroke care, South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, said:

“Strokes are killers. They are one of the top three causes of death and the largest cause of adult disability in England.

“Although the National Stroke Strategy has improved access to hyper-acute stroke care, there is still more that can be done. For example, fewer patients receive urgent CT scans at night or at weekends, and only one in four sites provides access to clot-busting drugs at these times.

“Strokes do not observe office hours, so stroke victims should not have to wait until the next working day for treatment. Post-hospital support for stroke patients and carers is also failing to keep pace with improved hospital care, and the extent to which services have been reconfigured to improve emergency stroke care varies considerably across the country.

“Strokes are not an inevitable part of growing old. The Department of Health must address inequalities in access to emergency stroke care if the National Stroke Strategy is to be a success”.

3 February 2010

See also:

NAO REPORT: Progress in improving stroke care

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