Strokes: Mechanical Thrombectomy

(asked on 17th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure progress against the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to modernise the stroke workforce to support the delivery of mechanical thrombectomy.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 23rd November 2021

Thrombectomy is currently available in 22 centres in England. The National Health Service is committed to increasing the delivery of mechanical thrombectomy from 1% to 10%, with the latest data showing that 2.3% of patients receiving a thrombectomy following a stroke. In early 2022, NHS England will undertake a quality review with each of the seven regions to increase the thrombectomy rate.

Since April 2021, integrated stroke delivery networks have been created across England to bring together health and care services to co-ordinate stroke care pathways. In May 2021, the NHS published the National Stroke Service Model which summarises the gold standard of care across the stroke pathway and advises providers and commissioners on how each element of this pathway can be improved


Due to training requirements, thrombectomy is restricted to Interventional Neuroradiologists in England. The General Medical Council (GMC) is working with the Royal College of Radiologists to develop a medical credential in interventional neuroradiology (acute stroke) which addresses mechanical thrombectomy. The GMC and the Royal College are ensuring the credential has the right scope to meet the needs of health services.

Reticulating Splines