World Stroke Day

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered World Stroke Day 2025.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. I thank all the hon. Members who have come to Westminster Hall today to mark World Stroke Day, which is tomorrow. This year, recovery is in the spotlight, and this debate provides a timely opportunity to consider the life-changing impact a stroke can have both on a survivor and their loved ones and how the NHS can better support patients’ recovery beyond the acute phase of treatment in the early days following a stroke.

Every day in the UK, another 240 people wake up to the catastrophic impact of a stroke. There are currently more than 1.4 million stroke survivors in the UK. On 9 May this year, my mother was one of those people, and that is the primary reason why I secured this debate. Her experiences over the past six months are still too raw and too devastating for us as a family for me to talk about today. Sadly, too many stories shared with me in recent weeks reflect exactly what my mum has been through and is still going through.

I will endeavour to use the short time available to highlight some of those stories and to call on the Minister to prioritise stroke rehabilitation in particular. Not only is that the right thing to do for the patient and for their family, but it makes a lot of financial sense. Ultimately, it would save the taxpayer money in healthcare and social care costs and enable those of working age to continue to work and to be active in their communities.

The Stroke Association estimates that, without Government action, stroke is expected to cost £75 billion by 2035. Approximately 100,000 people have a stroke each year in the UK, with 59% of them occurring in older generations. There are 38,000 stroke-related deaths every year, which makes it the fourth single leading cause of death in the UK. It is also the leading cause of complex adult disability in the UK, with around 60% of stroke patients leaving hospital with a disability. Stroke causes brain damage and can leave survivors unable to move, see, speak or even swallow. It can leave people doubly incontinent and lead to personality changes as well as depression. The NHS is rightly lauded for the care it provides, particularly in hospital, often delivering world-class support to those who need it when the unexpected happens.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

In my constituency, Manchester royal infirmary’s ward 31 provides outstanding acute and rehabilitative stroke care, supported by dedicated community health champions who promote prevention and early intervention to reduce the risk of stroke. Will the hon. Member join me in thanking both our dedicated hospital staff and community health champions, and support sustained investment in prevention, staffing and rehabilitation so that we can save lives and help survivors recover fully?

[Munira Wilson]

Of course I am very happy to congratulate the staff in the hon. Gentleman’s local hospital. Through my personal experience with my mother, I have seen how amazing hospital staff are, and where community services are available, I am sure those staff are brilliant, but the crux of my speech is about how poor the rehab services are in some parts of the country and how we really need to staff and boost them if we want to help people to have a good quality of life.

I have heard time and again from those who have lived experience that support for community rehabilitation is simply not good enough and often collapses six weeks post discharge from hospital. In some cases, support even six weeks post discharge is not available, depending on which integrated care board or local authority is responsible.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

In Torbay, in Devon, we have the third highest prevalence of strokes in the United Kingdom, and yet, within the last 12 months, we have seen cuts to support for the local stroke association. That has left people who are suffering from strokes feeling isolated and abandoned. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to see more investment at the grassroots to support sufferers of strokes?

[Munira Wilson]

I 100% agree. The post-stroke support is critical, and I will share some stories about people who have felt abandoned and isolated in exactly the way that my hon. Friend describes.

Despite guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says that 20% of people do not receive the minimum specialist rehabilitation required in the first five days following a stroke, and 68% do not have an assessment for rehabilitation, which is required after discharge. The reality is that those who want to regain a level of independence need to be able to fund support privately.

I pay tribute to Richard Sealy, who runs the Neuro Rehab Practice in Hampton, which is in my constituency. He and his whole team are doing brilliant work in trying to fill that gap. Over the summer, I had the privilege of visiting the practice and speaking to stroke survivors and their carers about their experiences. What runs through so many of their stories—I am sure Members will have heard similar—is the cliff edge that people fall off when they leave hospital, and the devastating knock-on impact that can have.

I would like to share some of their testimonies. One stroke survivor said:

“I felt lost, like I had been thrown out of the boat, not knowing what to do or where to find help”.

Another survivor’s family member said:

“Although the NHS took care of her while she was in hospital, we felt that after the six weeks had finished, it was very much goodbye. You’re now on your own”.

Another, when asked what happened when the NHS rehab ended and whether they were given any further options, simply replied, “Nothing.”

Those survivor stories are far from unique, and that is unacceptable. According to the Stroke Association, only 17% of community-based rehab services have appropriate access to each core therapy—physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. The Right to Rehab campaign argues for the simple idea that rehabilitation should be accessible to everyone who needs it, for as long as they need it.

We know that stroke survivors continue to make incremental improvements over many months, even years, so I welcome the Government’s ambition to rebuild our NHS through transitioning care from hospital to the community, and to improve integration of rehabilitation. While the Government target to reduce stroke and heart attack deaths by a quarter in the next 10 years is also welcome, given the devastating impact that stroke can have and the struggle to recover faced by many, the scope of that target must be widened to also reducing disability.

Take Miriam, a resident of Twickenham, who at just 21 years old suffered a stroke only three months after graduating with a BA in music. After spending four days in hospital without diagnosis or treatment, where she suffered two more strokes, she was unable to play an instrument or even grasp a pencil. She suffered significant challenges, including depression and isolation, but through therapy and determination, she was able to rebuild her life. Miriam is now a neurological music therapist, working with children and adults with learning disabilities, and I believe she is here, watching today’s debate.

Chris Stirling, who suffered a stroke in his 60s, was told by doctors after six months in hospital that he should go into a care home. He left hospital in a wheelchair, unable to shower. Thanks to privately funded neuro physiotherapy and the support of his family, he is now able to play golf, one-handed. Not everyone is as lucky as Chris to have both the means and the family support.

Miriam and Chris’s stories, and the testimonies I shared earlier in my speech, show just how important it is to get both stroke diagnosis and rehabilitation right.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

The hon. Member is making a powerful speech. Family friend Hannah Garrity, who is now in her 20s, took her stroke at the age of eight. She was a little girl, who woke up one day and took a severe headache, and out of that, she had a very severe stroke. She is an inspiration. She is now teaching art in schools. She is a Sunday school teacher in her local church, and she gives so much back to society. Would the hon. Member agree that more research is needed, particularly in relation to strokes in young people and children, given the increase in the number of them who are taking strokes?

[Munira Wilson]

Absolutely. I am sure that in stroke, as in so many other areas of medicine, more research would be welcome, particularly into how we can prevent stroke in younger people. It is shocking to hear that a child so young suffered a stroke.

The stories that I have shared today demonstrate the impact that good care and rehab can have on quality of life, regaining independence and restoring people’s identity. The moral, social, health and economic cases for better rehab support are overwhelming. Will the Minister therefore commit to expanding the Government target to cut deaths caused by stroke and heart attack to include reducing disability? With stoke and cardiovascular disease a trailblazer for the modern service framework, what discussions is he having in the Department and with the Treasury to resource implementation and ensure there is a lead in the Department on this area? With 40% of physiotherapists saying that insufficient staffing is leading to their patients experiencing increased levels of pain and ill health, what work is he undertaking to expand the physio workforce? Will he look at ensuring that integrated care boards’ data plans capture and report on performance and rehabilitation, including in relation to populations who are not accessing rehabilitation?

On this World Stroke Day, stroke survivors and their carers are not asking for the impossible: a concrete plan to make stroke rehabilitation accessible across the country, no matter what someone earns or where they live. As the Secretary of State himself said only at the start of this year,

“Whether in the NHS or in social care, we definitely need to do more on rehabilitation, because rehabilitation is often secondary prevention.”—[Official Report, 6 January 2025; Vol. 759, c. 608.]

He was right, and now that needs to be delivered. I look forward to the Minister’s response. I would welcome the opportunity to meet him to discuss these issues alongside patient groups and representatives.

--- Later in debate ---

[Munira Wilson]

I thank all hon. Members who have taken part in the debate, particularly the hon. Members for Stratford and Bow (Uma Kumaran), for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy), for sharing their personal stories. I also thank everyone for their good wishes for my mum, which I will pass on when I speak to her next.

I am grateful for the Minister’s response. I am encouraged by what he said about data, prevention, the digital tools that will come into play, and the fact that we are trying to make thrombectomies universal during that acute phase when somebody is blue lighted somewhere. However, I come back to one of my key asks, which was to widen the target for stroke and cardiovascular disease to prevent disability, not just to save lives.

Of course, saving lives is crucial. Thanks to those interventions, many lives are saved, but the disability that goes with that is incredible. Yes, we can use robots and all sorts of other new technology, but, ultimately, physios, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists are desperately needed. Frankly, community-based rehab is withering on the vine, and I have been personally quite shocked by how patchy it is. My plea is for the Minister to take the need to build up those services to the public health Minister, and I hope that she will be willing to meet me, as well as patient groups and patients.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered World Stroke Day 2025.