Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department is making on the development of the new national stroke plan for England.

A Stroke Programme Board was established in March 2018, overseeing the development of a stroke plan to address the challenges of prevention, service reconfiguration, optimising rehabilitation services, workforce development and transformative data. Subsequently the Board will lead the programme to optimise these areas of work.

The Board is co-chaired by the National Medical Director, Professor Steve Powis and Juliet Bouverie, Chief Executive Officer of the Stroke Association.

The stroke programme will include a strong focus on rehabilitation with a number of specific initiatives including improving accessible data to inform change, workforce optimisation, reduction in variation of key services such as early supported discharge and improved signposting for continued provision at six months after stroke and beyond.