Strokes
(asked on 6th January 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contribution the national stroke strategy has made to developing new technologies for use in treating stroke; and if he will make a statement.
Since the publication ofthe National Stroke Strategy, diagnosis and treatment of stroke has improved in a number of areas:
- access to immediate brain scanning has improved with 46% of patients being scanned within one hour of hospital arrival and 90% within 12 hours;
- stroke patients do better when they are treated on a stroke unit. 83% of stroke patients now spend more than 90% of their time in hospitalon a stroke unit;and
- clot busting drugs give a certain cohort of stroke patients a better chance of regaining their independence. Almost 12% of all stroke patients admitted to hospital receive these drugs – a rate that is higher than most other developed countries.
Since publication of the strategy, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published technology appraisal and interventional procedures guidance on a number of new technologies to treat or prevent stroke and transient ischaemic attacks. Further information is available at:
The strategy has also encouraged the development of specialist care for stroke both in the acute phase and during rehabilitation. This combined with the Stroke Research Network (and subsequently the Clinical Research Network),funded through the National Institute for Health Research, has led to a huge increase in the number of people with stroke taking part in research, particularly randomised controlled trials.
In terms of improvements in rehabilitation, there has been a significant growth in availability of services such as early supported discharge and community neuro-rehabilitation teams over recent years. For example, recent data shows that 74% of hospitals had access to stroke specific early supported discharge and 72% to specialist community rehabilitation teams.
Although these figures are encouraging, there is more to do. NHS England recognises this and, in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians stroke programme and the Strategic Clinic Networks, is working with clinical commissioning groups to support areas where improvement is needed.
The strategy remains valid and implementation of it continues.There are, therefore, no current plans to renew the national stroke strategy. Action is being taken to ensure the progress made on stroke continues. This includes:
- 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;
- a CVD expert forum, hosted by NHS England, to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy; and
- NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Stroke works with the Strategic Clinical Networks, CCGs, voluntary agencies and individual providers to support better commissioning and provision of stroke care.
More generally, the NHS Five Year Forward Viewrecognises thatquality of care, including stroke care, can be variable and that patients’ needs are changing and new treatment options are emerging. The Five Year Forward View sets out high level objectives to address these issues.
NHS England uses a wide variety of mechanisms to inform thinking about the clinical priorities for the NHS, including public involvement (such as through the NHS citizen process) and analysis of the clinical challenges and opportunities to deliver improvement which exist. In addition, the recommendations of Parliament and the National Audit Office are key considerations.Final decisions about the priorities for the NHS are determined through the Government’s Mandate to NHS England.