Government pledge £77 million to boost stroke services

Every local authority in England will be able to appoint a dedicated Stroke Care Coordinator to support stroke survivors and their carers thanks to millions of pounds of extra funding for stroke services, Health Minister Ann Keen announced today.

The Government has committed £77m over the next three years to develop innovative new approaches to delivering stroke services and support areas of poor performance to propel the NHS and social services towards meeting key markers in the Stroke Strategy. Published in December, it set out a bold vision for the delivery of world-class stroke services, from prevention right through to life-long support.

There are some 900,000 in England people living with the consequences of a stroke. Stroke is also the largest single cause of severe disability in England, so much of the extra investment will go towards better long-term support for the 300,000 people living with moderate to severe disabilities as a result of stroke.

Every local authority will receive a ring-fenced grant worth an average of £100,000 per year. This money could fund:

* A stroke care coordinator, especially where local authorities do not currently have a specialist, social care focussed, approach to supporting people and their carers affected by stroke. Such a role would provide a person-centred approach to delivery of services across local government and the NHS;

* Counselling and support services to help survivors come to terms with the emotional and cognitive effects of stroke;

* Support to get back to work, for example through a vocational rehabilitation scheme

In addition, every Strategic Health Authority will receive £2.4m over the next three years to invest in improvements to acute services across the country. We want the NHS to support areas of poor performance and share best practice across the service. This extra money could be used to:

* Quicken the response to stroke, which could include reorganising emergency response, stroke teams and radiology units to ensure rapid access to scans, thrombolysis and early multi-disciplinary assessment;

* Improve access to rehabilitation services, which could include setting up an early supported discharge scheme or moving rehabilitation into a community setting.

Health Minister Ann Keen said:

"Stroke survivors often say that the full impact of their condition only hits them once they leave hospital. For some, this can feel like a time of abandonment, when it is hard to know how to access help.

"That is why extra investment in social services is so important. We know that long-term support needs to be better coordinated and local authorities have a critical role to play alongside the NHS and the voluntary sector in improving services for the thousands of people living with disabilities as a result of stroke.

"Only by working together will we deliver the level of after-stroke care survivors and their carers deserve."

Jon Barrick, Chief Executive of the Stroke Association, said:

"All too often stroke survivors tell us that their transition from hospital back into the community was daunting and disorganised with poor links between health and social services. That's why this announcement to help stroke survivors in the community is so important.

"By providing these ring-fenced resources to social services, we hope to see a vital increase in specialist and voluntary sector stroke expertise in the community - something stroke survivors desperately want and need."

Professor Roger Boyle, National Clinical Director for Stroke, said:

"Treating stroke as an emergency will save lives. The challenge now for the NHS is to accelerate its response to stroke. Some people will benefit from clot-busting drugs, but everyone can benefit from getting into hospital quickly, being seen by a specialist and scanned within three hours of feeling unwell.

"I want to see the NHS use this extra money to develop rapid-response systems so that people are scanned quickly before being swiftly moved to a specialist stroke unit for the best treatment."

A stroke can be diagnosed by using FAST - Facial weakness, Arm weakness, Speech Problems, Test all three. If someone has these symptoms you should call an ambulance straight away.

Stroke is a blood clot or bleed in the brain which can leave lasting damage affecting mobility, cognition, sight or communication. Each year more than 110,000 people in England have a stroke, costing the NHS over £2.8bn.

Stroke is the third biggest killer in England, with 50,000 people dying from it each year.