Declares that there is a need for a new national strategy for stroke; further that a new strategy will ensure that stroke survivors and their carers receive the support they need; further that it will drive improvements in hospital care; further that it will drive the roll out of a new treatment, thrombectomy; and further that a new strategy will save lives.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to commit to writing a new national stroke strategy.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Mr Nigel Evans , Official Report, 14 September 2016; Vol. 614, c. 8P.]
[P001708]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (David Mowat):
Decisions on whether the stroke strategy should be renewed are a matter for NHS England. As NHS England has moved away from disease specific strategies towards guidance that is more cross cutting and because the stroke strategy remains valid and implementation of it continues, NHS England has no current plans to renew it. Action is being taken to ensure the progress made on stroke continues. Initiatives include;
ongoing work in virtually all parts of the country to organise acute stroke care to ensure that all stroke patients, regardless of where they live or what time of the day or week they have their stroke, have access to high quality specialist care;
publication of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy in 2013, which includes many stroke specific strategic ambitions;
NHS England has established a CVD collaborative to bring together relevant stakeholders in the field of CVD and provide a forum where relevant work being undertaken in this area and potential new initiatives can be discussed and responsibilities for action determined;
NHS England’s National Clinical Director (NCD) for stroke is working with Clinical Networks, Urgent and Emergency Care Networks, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas on how stroke care is best delivered to local communities;
services for the management of transient ischaemic attack (T1A) are changing in many areas to meet the new standard that all T1A patients should be seen and assessed within 24 hours, not just high risk patients. CCGs are being encouraged to increase the geographical coverage of early supported discharge services;
thrombectomy for stroke is to be considered for new funding through specialised commissioning;
NHS England continues to fund the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme which records information on the processes of care and outcomes both for the acute hospital phase and the subsequent care in the community up to 6 months after the stroke; and
Public Health England will be running another Act FAST campaign early in 2017 to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of stroke.
Prevention of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases is also a priority for NHS England, particularly reducing the very high prevalence of CVD in patients with mental health illness. The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme will also have an impact on reducing the burden of stroke. Over 20% of stroke admissions have diabetes as one of the causative factors.