Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to increase the number of physiotherapy appointments available to patients who have had a stroke.

Provision of physiotherapy as part of stroke rehabilitation is a key part of the stroke care pathway as outlined in NHS England’s National Stroke Service Model and the national service model for an integrated community stroke service (ICSS).

Plans are in place to increase access to rehabilitation closer to home. This includes the £200 million Discharge Fund, a commitment to digital rehabilitation for those who would benefit from it, and access to physiotherapy in community settings as part of the ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services’, which was published earlier this year. This is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/delivery-plan-for-recovering-urgent-and-emergency-care-services/

The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) reported that the number of patients accessing community stroke services has risen from 39,655 in 2018/19 to 47,152 in 2022/23.

NHS organisations have been asked to ensure that adequate space is allocated to functions such as physiotherapy, so that such services can operate efficiently.