Strokes

(asked on 17th November 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what condition-specific strategies are in place for stroke care to help the Five Year Forward View to deliver its strategic aims.


Answered by
 Portrait
David Mowat
This question was answered on 25th November 2016

The NHS Five Year Forward View recognises that quality 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, but is not condition-specific.

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 collaborative group is being established 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 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; and

- services for the management of transient ischaemic attack (TIA) are changing in many areas to meet the new standard that all TIA 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.

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.

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