Fast medical response required for effective stroke care

While stroke treatment and awareness has been improving in recent years, more needs to be done, evidence suggests.

Immediate response times are crucial for positive outcomes in terms of mortality and quality of life.

Yet, according to a new report from the National Audit Office, only 17 per cent of stroke patients reached a stroke unit within four hours of arrival at hospital in 2008.

Assessing the Department of Health's strategy for stroke care, the study also revealed that improvements in follow-up care have not matched those made in the provision of acute stroke services in the past three years.

Patients treated in a specialist stroke unit are more likely to survive, have fewer complications and regain their independence, the report also found.

Andrea Lane, media manager at The Stroke Association, said: "Stroke is a brain attack and time lost is brain lost. It's imperative that people get to hospital as quickly as possible for a brain scan so the right treatment can be given.

"We need to ensure that stroke patients have access to treatment 24/7 no matter where they live."

Statistics from the British Heart Foundation show that stroke is a major cause of mortality in the UK, accounting for around 53,000 deaths every year.

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