Stroke services
Parliament's spending watchdog has called for a more co-ordinated effort to deal with the cost of strokes.
In a report released on Wednesday, the National Audit Office said the condition costs the economy around £7bn every year.
While praising progress that has been made in treating and preventing stokes, it called for improvements to be made to ensure less suffering.
The report revealed that stroke is now one of the top three causes of death in
Government Response: Liam Byrne
Care services minister Liam Byrne said: "The NHS has made tremendous strides in tackling the two biggest killers: cancer and CHD. We have already made good progress on stroke, as the NAO acknowledges, but we too believe there is more to be done.
"Over 2000 people suffer a stroke each week - implementing the NAO recommendations could save as many as an extra ten lives a week.
"We will take action immediately by spreading examples of best practice and will build a future generation of clinical champions through a programme to expand stroke physician training numbers.
"I have asked for work to begin on a new stroke strategy which will deliver the newest treatments and improve the care that stroke patients receive.
"In the mean time, the forthcoming White Paper on out of hospital care will put forward proposals to strengthen local care, such as rehabilitation, and ensure services are unified and simple to access."
Opposition Response: Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrat spokesman for older people Sandra Gidley said: "Today's report shows that stroke services have been neglected for too long. The government's obsession with targets in other areas has taken money away from improving stroke care.
"Although the government admit that the report's recommendations will save lives they have failed to implement their own reforms suggested in 2001.
"Stroke patients are being let down. They are denied quick access to diagnosis and treatment. Not only is this an appalling situation for the individuals concerned, but it is a false economy.If patients are not treated quickly their symptoms may be worse in the long term and may cost more to treat.
"Given the huge financial impact of stroke, ministers must take careful note of today's report and deliver the high quality services that stroke patients deserve."
Stakeholder Response:
"It is time to act urgently on stroke - the country's third biggest killer and the biggest cause of severe disability. The NAO report demonstrates that the faster the diagnosis, the higher the quality of care and rehabilitation that stroke patients receive the better will be the outcome.
"The better the outcome the more likely it is that stroke patients can avoid lengthy stays in hospital and long term disability. This will not only reduce the financial impact of stroke upon health and social care services but also the huge emotional and economic impact upon families and carers.
"Recent improvements in stroke care are welcome but have been too slow. The NAO report provides the strongest of arguments for urgent action to be taken now.
"The
"The need for action is made even more urgent due to the predicted increase in the number of older people over the next 15 years, which will mean even greater demands will be put on services for stroke patients - services which are clearly inadequate and straining to cope with current demands."
Stakeholder Response:
Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the
"This finding shows that the extra investment in the NHS is being translated into real improvements in patient are. In particular, the report acknowledges that the new GPs' contract has 'improved stroke prevention'.
"Prevention is key because stroke has such a profound impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of NHS patients.
"The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) for family doctors was negotiated by the
"Latest figures show that, under the QOF in the previous 15 months, more than 720,000 stroke patients had their blood pressure monitored and more than 615,000 stroke patients had their cholesterol levels monitored by GPs and their clinical teams."
Stakeholder Response:
Dr Tony Rudd, chairman of the InterCollegiate Stroke Group based at the Royal College of Physicians, said: "We thoroughly welcome this report, which is a timely reminder of the poor quality of care for stroke patients compared to patients with other medical conditions such as heart attack.
"This report is a serious and humane document aimed at making stroke a priority, and improving care for patients with stroke and their carers. It also recognises that the potential risks of stroke for everyone need to be better communicated.
"The Department of Health can no longer hide behind the pretence that this is a new problem. We know from the College’s own long-running national audits and guidelines the structures that need to be in place for better stroke care.
"We also know the type of care that needs to be given in a timely and co-ordinated fashion to reduce the impact of stroke, prevent people having another one, and help people avoid having a stroke in the first place.
"All NHS staff including NHS Direct should be trained to recognise the importance of early symptoms of stroke.
"This report should give the DH fresh impetus to improve funding and co-ordination of stroke services and we will be delighted to work with both the DH and the Healthcare Commission to build on our existing guidelines and audit processes as recommended in the report.
"Particularly welcome is the recommendation that acute stroke services are delivered through acute stroke units, as at present only about a third of hospitals have an acute stroke unit.
"We hope by the time of the next RCP National Sentinel Audit for Stroke in 2006, there will be significant improvements in care for patients with stroke."
Stakeholder Response:
Jonathan Ellis, policy manager at
"In spite of the seriousness of these figures, they may well be underestimated and likely to worsen without investment to improve the prevention, treatment and care of those at risk of stroke.
"The NAO reported today that stroke costs the economy £7bn every year, with the NHS spending £2.8bn on treating sufferers - these figures speak volumes.
"Not only do strokes impose a huge cost on the economy in lost production but also in terms of the quality of someone’s life and the financial costs of acute, chronic and long-term health and social care.
"We hope it’s enough to convince the government to invest more not only in the prevention of stroke in the first place, but in delivering better and quicker access to stroke services and in basic scientific research to provide information which will help develop new treatments and assist recovery."
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