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News Article
Dozens of stroke units lose ‘A’ ratings
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Close to 80% of stroke units are falling well short against a swathe of new standards introduced to the high-profile national audit, according to HSJ analysis. In the latest figures from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme just one unit, at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, achieved an ‘A’ rating. This compared with 30 trusts rated ‘A’ in July-September 2024 data – the final results before major methodology changes. The changes included significant new indicators – such as on thrombectomy – and increasing the performance bar on several existing measures, like those covering the standard and intensity of rehab care. In the most recent data – October-December 2025 – of 99 routinely admitting stroke teams nationally, 22 achieved the lowest possible overall rating of ‘E’, while 57 were ranked the second lowest of ‘D’. Five received a ‘B’ and 14 a ‘C. A substantial overhaul of the method, including introducing new measures – such as thrombectomy accesss – and raising the bar on others, for example standards and intensity of rehabilitation. The Stroke Association is calling for the government to use its upcoming modern service framework guidance on cardiovascular disease – expected in coming weeks – to drive up rehab standards. The charity said the new audit ratings revealed “significant gaps” in treatment standards – although it accepted the falls in ratings were “very much about recalibration” rather than declining quality. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 20 May 2026 -
News Article
Black people in England twice as likely to suffer stroke as white counterparts
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People from black backgrounds in England are twice as likely to experience strokes as their white counterparts, while also being less likely to receive timely care, according to the largest study of its kind. The study, conducted by researchers at King’s College London and presented at the European Stroke Organisation conference, analysed 30 years of stroke incidents from the South London Stroke Register, one of the longest-running population-based stroke registers in the world. Within a population of 333,000 people, according to the analysis, 7,726 strokes occurred. And while stroke incidence fell by 34% between 1995-99 and 2010-14, the rate rose again by 13% between 2020 and 2024. The analysis also found that during this period where stroke incidents were on the rise, people from black African and Caribbean backgrounds were more than twice as likely to experience a stroke compared with their white counterparts. More specifically, stroke incidence was 131% higher in black African and 100% higher in black Caribbean populations in comparison with their white counterparts. People from black backgrounds are up to 47% more likely to have high blood pressure, and are also up to twice as likely to have diabetes than their white counterparts, even after adjusting for other risk factors including socioeconomic background. Dr Camila Pantoja-Ruiz, of King’s College London, the lead author of the study, said: “This trend may partly reflect the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which reduced access to primary care, blood pressure monitoring and prescribing, particularly affecting black and deprived communities.” She added: “These patterns of increased stroke risk in these communities may also be influenced by broader factors, including racism, unconscious bias and socioeconomic circumstances, which can impact access to and quality of care." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 May 2026 -
News ArticleThousands of stroke victims are being denied access to a crucial, life-altering treatment, a charity has warned. The Stroke Association has highlighted "stark inequalities" in whether patients receive a thrombectomy – a procedure that removes a blood clot from a blocked blood vessel in the brain. Getting this treatment in the hours after stroke symptoms start can save a person’s life or reduce the risk of life-long disability, as it reduces brain damage caused by a clot. Analysis by the Stroke Association reveals that 1,222 patients missed out on a thrombectomy between October and December last year, despite the procedure needing to be carried out within the first 24 hours. The charity attributes these disparities to the fact that some parts of the country lack access to round-the-clock thrombectomy services. NHS plans, introduced in 2019, had set ambitious targets to expand thrombectomy provision from just 1% to 10% of stroke patients, predicting this would enable 1,600 more individuals to live independently each year. But the Stroke Association said that this critical target remains unmet Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 April 2026
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News Article
Key stroke treatment still not available around the clock across England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS has not made a “life-changing” treatment for stroke available around the clock across England despite ministers repeatedly promising that it would. The health service was expected to improve stroke care by making a clot removal technique called mechanical thrombectomy available everywhere in the country 24/7 from 1 April. Doctors describe it as a gamechanging intervention that, if done quickly, can help someone who has had a severe stroke avoid ending up with a serious disability as a result. However, seven of England’s 24 regional stroke centres are still not providing thrombectomy on an all-hours basis, mainly because they do not have enough doctors and other staff to do so. Experts fear the NHS’s failure to deliver universal 24/7 access to the treatment could mean patients who have a stroke overnight, in the evening or at weekends in underserved areas may become avoidably severely disabled, or may even die, because they could not have the procedure. More than 100,000 people a year in the UK have a stroke, of whom 38,000 die and many others are left with life-changing disabilities that rob them of their independence. Dr Sanjeev Nayak, a stroke specialist at the Royal Stoke hospital in Stoke, said: “A patient presenting during normal working hours in a well-served area may receive rapid, life-changing treatment, whereas the same patient presenting at night or in a different region may not receive thrombectomy at all. This creates a real postcode lottery in access to one of the most effective treatments in modern medicine.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 April 2026 -
News ArticleMore than a million people with heart disease could be prescribed weight loss jabs on the NHS to prevent them from having heart attacks or strokes. Sold under the brand name Wegovy and made by Novo Nordisk, the weekly jab is a type of drug called a GLP-1 receptor agonist. It works by mimicking the natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion. The drug can be prescribed to lower blood sugar in people living with type 2 diabetes, but can also help people to lose weight and has been shown to work directly on the heart and blood vessels. Now the NHS’s spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), has given the green light to give semaglutide to overweight and obese patients living with certain heart and circulatory conditions. It is expected that 1.2 million people across England could benefit. Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the move was a “genuine win–win” that will improve patients’ quality of life. “We now have medicines that not only reduce heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral arterial disease, but also simultaneously lead to meaningful weight loss – which in turn lowers the risk of many weight‑related conditions,” Prof Sattar said. “Given that so many people living with cardiovascular disease also struggle with excess weight, it’s no longer sufficient to focus solely on lipids and blood pressure. We must also address weight directly if we want to deliver the best possible outcomes for our patients,” he added. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 April 2026
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News Article
National audit reveals ‘dire state’ of treatment for stroke survivors
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Stroke Association says stroke care is in a “dire state” in England with too few patients receiving timely treatment and only a third getting the recommended after care. The charity says, as a result, thousands of stroke survivors are not getting the help they need to physically and mentally recover. It warned that patients are also facing a “postcode lottery” when it comes to getting a clot-busting treatment, which can significantly reduce the likelihood of long-term disability. Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association, said: “Stroke changes a person’s life in an instant with far-reaching repercussions for many. It requires treatments including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and mental health support. “The fact that 65% of stroke survivors don’t get this is truly shocking and demonstrates the dire state stroke treatment and ongoing care is in. “Stroke must be prioritised by governments and the NHS from prevention to diagnosis, treatment and long-term recovery, only then will stroke patients get the treatment they need, whenever they need it, so the increasing number of UK stroke survivors can live mentally and physically well.” While stroke patients should be given a review six months after their stroke to discuss their physical and mental health and their ongoing needs, data from the 24/25 Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme revealed that only 35% of patients had this review – the lowest level since 2019/20. Read full story Source: The Independent, 29 October 2025 -
Content ArticleCardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels, including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other arterial and aortic diseases. The British Heart Foundation estimates that there are approximately 6.4 million people in England living with CVD (as at September 2024). In 2022, CVD contributed to a quarter of deaths in England. Local authorities have a statutory duty to commission NHS Health Checks – used to help prevent CVD – for their local eligible population. While DHSC provides funding to local authorities for Health Checks through the public health grant, and retains policy responsibility, local authorities. This report examines the effectiveness of the government‘s approach to identifying, preventing and managing CVD in England. It sets out: levels and trends in CVD in England the role of primary care in detecting and preventing CVD commissioning, delivery and performance on Health Checks wider public health work on preventing CVD.
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News Article
Speedy finger-prick tests to diagnose strokes trialled in Cambridgeshire
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Ambulance crews in Cambridgeshire are piloting the use of finger-prick blood tests to diagnose the deadliest form of stroke, with preliminary data suggesting they may be up to twice as effective as relying on patients’ symptoms alone. The tests, which work on a similar principle to the lateral flow tests (LFTs) used to detect Covid, are designed to rapidly identify whether someone suspected of having a stroke has suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO), where a blood clot blocks a major artery in the brain. Although LVOs account for about a third of strokes, they are responsible for 95% of disabilities and deaths. However, a patient’s chances of recovery are markedly improved if they undergo a thrombectomy procedure to manually remove the clot within hours of symptom onset. The problem is that there are only 24 hospitals in the UK that can provide thrombectomy treatment, and LVO is difficult to diagnose without a brain scan because many other conditions show similar symptoms. Unless a patient is lucky enough to live near a specialist centre, they will usually be assessed at a general hospital and then transferred. According to national audit data from 2022-23, it takes an average of three hours or more from arriving at a first hospital to arriving at a thrombectomy centre. “Early identification of LVO strokes by ambulance clinicians could offer opportunities for fast-tracking patients to thrombectomy-capable hospitals, avoiding delays to care when taken to other non-specialist hospitals,” said Larissa Prothero, an advanced research paramedic at the East of England ambulance service NHS trust (EEAST), which is involved in the feasibility study. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 March 2025 -
Content ArticleThe major conditions strategy is a national framework being developed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). It will focus on six major groups of conditions: cancers cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and diabetes chronic respiratory diseases dementia mental ill health musculoskeletal disorders This briefing by NHS Confederation examines how the upcoming major conditions strategy can set the conditions to prevent, treat and manage multimorbidity in England. Key points NHS leaders have identified key levers that the major conditions strategy can use to maximise its impact on healthy life expectancy and reduce inequalities. These fall under three categories: create a healthy society, make the most of existing infrastructure and policy and implementation. The major conditions strategy will allow health services to evolve from a single-disease approach to a multimorbidity approach, which will match how patients need to use the service. Integrated care systems will provide vital infrastructure for the sharing of data, integration of services and creation of a patient-centred approach to health and care provision. A health service designed around multimorbidity would be a step-change for patients and requires a series of shifts to be made in both focus and provision.
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Content Article
Stroke rehabilitation: my care (updated October 2023, NICE)
Patient_Safety_Learning posted an article in NICE
This visual summary (link below) is for healthcare professionals to use together with people who have had a stroke to help start or inform conversations about all aspects of their care, and give them details on what care and support they should expect. -
Content ArticleThe Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) measures the quality and organisation of stroke care across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The overall aim of SSNAP is to provide timely information to clinicians, commissioners, patients and the public on how well stroke care is being delivered. Processes of care are measured against evidence-based quality standards referring to the interventions that any patient may be expected to receive. This report presents data from more than 91,000 patients admitted to hospitals between April 2022 and March 2023 and submitted to the audit, representing over 90% of all admitted strokes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This data is summarised in key messages for both those who provide and those who commission stroke care in hospitals and the community, and presented in tables and charts.
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Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on the detection and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors including hypertension. In June 2022, nearly two million fewer people with hypertension were recorded as being treated to target, compared with the previous year. As a result, NHS England commissioned the AHSN Network to deliver a new national Blood Pressure Optimisation (BPO) programme building on its portfolio of work around cardiovascular disease. This report lays out: evidence about the impact of the BPO programme how it has been received by frontline staff how it has been implemented nationally.
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Content ArticleA report has been published by Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) setting out the findings of a review of patient flow in Wales. Patient flow is the movement of patients through a healthcare system from the point of admission to the point of discharge. HIW specifically examined the journey of patients through the stroke pathway. This was to understand what is being done to mitigate any harm to those awaiting care, as well as to understand how the quality and safety of care is being maintained throughout the stroke pathway. The review findings reveal consistent challenges caused by poor patient flow throughout Wales, hindering the timely and appropriate delivery of care. These challenges are wide ranging, but primarily stem from the high demand for beds combined with the complexities involved in discharging medically fit patients from hospitals. Unnecessarily long stays in hospital due to delayed discharge can place patients at risk of hospital acquired infections or deterioration whilst awaiting discharge. The bottleneck at the point of discharge has a knock-on impact on emergency departments, ambulance response times, inpatient care, planned admissions and overall staff wellbeing. These challenges are wide ranging; the high demand for inpatient hospital beds combined with the complexities with discharging medically fit patients from hospital, leads to the inpatient healthcare system across Wales operating under extreme pressure.
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News Article
Offer stroke patients three hours a day of rehab, NHS urged
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Stroke patients should be offered extra rehabilitation on the NHS, say updated guidelines for England and Wales. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) had previously recommended 45 minutes a day. But it believes some patients may need more intensive therapy for recovery and is suggesting three hours a day, five days a week. Experts welcome the advice, but question how feasible it will be for a stretched health service to deliver. NICE accepts it may be "challenging", but it says patients and families deserve the best care possible. That includes help regaining speech, movement and other functions caused by the damage that happens to the brain during a stroke. NHS England has said increasing the availability of high quality rehabilitation is a priority. More people than ever are surviving a stroke thanks to improvements in NHS care, it added. Read full story Source: BBC News,18 October 2023 -
News Article
Why didn’t wife and mother get ‘miracle’ stroke treatment, grieving family ask
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A primary school teaching assistant died from a stroke after hospital staff told her family that the life-saving treatment she needed was not available at weekends. Jasbir Pahal, 44, who had four children and was known as Jas, died in November last year after suffering a stroke. Her family was told she could only be treated with aspirin because a procedure to remove the blood clot was only available from 8am to 3pm, Monday to Friday. It has now emerged that the life-saving treatment, called mechanical thrombectomy, was available at an NHS hospital trust just a 40-minute drive away from the Calderdale Royal hospital in Halifax where she was being treated, but there were no arrangements for such transfers. Jasbir’s husband, Satinder Pahal, 49, said: “We have paid the ultimate price for this deficient service. Despite our pleas to save Jas’s life, all they could do was to give her an aspirin. “My wife was a vegetarian, never drank alcohol or smoked. She was fit and healthy and she wasn’t given the chance to survive. Jas was the centre of our worlds and her loss will impact us for ever.” The family are calling for urgent action to prevent future deaths." The Observer reported last month of warnings by the Stroke Association charity and clinicians about the regional variations in access to mechanical thrombectomy. It has been described as a “miracle” treatment, with some patients who were at risk of death or permanent disability walking out of hospital the day after the procedure. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 15 October 2023 -
News Article
GP mistakes led to patient suffering a stroke and going blind
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Doctors missed a man’s stroke which led him to suffer another one and go temporarily blind. The man said that the experience had changed him from ‘an outgoing social person, to a sheltered man living in fear that he is not being looked after competently’. The 75-year-old visited his GP in Darlington complaining of dizziness, light-headedness, and a numb foot. He had experienced a stroke and should have been immediately sent to hospital. But doctors missed the signs, diagnosed him with a ‘dropped foot’ and requested an urgent MRI scan. However, due to an administrative error the referral wasn’t made and the scan never happened. A month after visiting the GP, the man suffered a blinding headache and diminished vision. He saw an ophthalmologist who referred him to a specialist team. He had suffered another stroke. He also paid for a private scan which confirmed the first stroke happened a month earlier. Distressingly, the man lost vision in his right eye, which he was told could be permanent. Fortunately, his sight returned eight weeks later. His daughter, who described the experience as ‘horrendous’, complained to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) about her father’s care. The PHSO found that the initial symptoms were signs of a problem with nerve, spinal cord, or brain function. Doctors should have suspected a stroke and immediately sent him to hospital. If that had happened, the second stroke and sight loss would likely have been avoided. Ombudsman Rob Behrens said: “Having a stroke and then being told you could be permanently blind must have been incredibly frightening. The impact on the man, and his family who supported him through the ordeal, will have been deep and long-lasting. “Mistakes like these need to be recognised and acted upon so that they are not repeated.” Read full press release Read case file Source: PHSO, 4 October 2023 -
News Article
Trusts’ row over stroke services sparks ‘significant safety’ concerns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A district general hospital has accused a major teaching trust of ‘failing to adhere to arrangements’ made around the provision of acute stroke services, sparking patient safety warnings in a local integrated care board’s (ICB) risk register. Harrogate and District Foundation Trust’s accusation that its neighbour, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, is failing to comply with protocol around acute stroke pathways was published in West Yorkshire ICB’s risk register. The ICB’s September risk register also said the “risk to patient safety is significant and probable if the situation remains unresolved”. The issues centre on the provision of hyper-acute stroke unit beds, which provide the first two to three days of care for patients with newly diagnosed strokes, and what happens to patients requiring acute stroke care following their initial HASU stay. West Yorkshire ICB said in its September’s performance report that the problem had “grown due to two recent clinical incidents,” but added “there is no quick solution to this problem”. Harrogate has raised concerns with the ICB in recent months that “a number of patients are not receiving HASU level care at Leeds”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 October 2023 -
News Article
Government reports on 'overdue' major conditions strategy
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
The Government must provide the health service with more support to fulfil its ambition of extending healthy life expectancy and reducing premature death, an expert has warned. It comes after the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) published an interim report on its Major Conditions Strategy, a 5-year blueprint to help manage six disease groups more effectively and tackle health inequality. The groups are cancer, cardiovascular disease – including stroke and diabetes – musculoskeletal conditions, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health conditions and dementia. The Government said the illnesses "account for over 60% of ill health and early death in England", while patients with two or more conditions account for about 50% of hospital admissions, outpatient visits, and primary care consultations. By 2035, two-thirds of adults over 65 are expected to be living with two or more conditions, while 17% could have four or more. Sally Gainsbury, Nuffield Trust senior policy analyst, said the Government is right to focus on the six conditions, but "will need to shift more of its focus towards primary prevention, early diagnosis, and symptom management". She added: "What's less clear is how Government will support health and care systems to do this in the context of severe pressures on staff and other resources, as well as a political culture that tends to place far more focus on what happens inside hospitals than what happens in community healthcare services, GP practices and pharmacies. This initiative is both long overdue and its emphasis has shifted over time. The Major Conditions Strategy is being developed in place of a White Paper on health inequalities originally promised over 18 months ago." Read full story Source: Medscape, 16 August 2023 -
Content Article
NICE decision aid: Should I take a statin?
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Heart conditions
This decision aid from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) can help you if you are thinking about taking a statin. It is for people who do not already have heart disease and have not had a stroke. You can use it to help you to talk about your options with your healthcare professional (such as your doctor, pharmacist or nurse). -
Content ArticleThe National Clinical Guideline for Stroke for the UK and Ireland provides authoritative, evidence-based practice guidance to improve the quality of care delivered to every adult who has a stroke in the United Kingdom and Ireland, regardless of age, gender, type of stroke, location, or any other feature. The guideline is intended for: Those providing care – nurses, doctors, therapists, care staff. Those receiving care – patients, their families, their carers. Those commissioning, providing or sanctioning stroke services. Anyone seeking to improve the care of people with stroke. The guideline is an initiative of the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party.
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News Article
Doubling of average waits for critical stroke treatments
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Stroke patients in England are waiting an average of almost seven hours for a specialist bed, double the wait reported before Covid. National performance against key measures collected by the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme has nosedived, with patients in England waiting an average of almost seven hours to be admitted to a specialist unit in 2022-23, compared to three and a half hours in 2019-20. NHS England guidance states that every patient with acute stroke should be given rapid access to a stroke unit within four hours. This time frame is considered critical, as patients can only be given clot-busting drugs, and treatments such as thrombectomy, which surgically removes a clot, within the first few hours of stroke onset. However, this was achieved in just 40% of cases last year (2022-23), down from 61% in 2018-19. Juliet Bouverie, CEO of the Stroke Association, urged ministers to give trusts what they needed to reverse the decline, saying: “Stroke is a medical emergency and every minute is critical. “We are very concerned to see that, far from improving over the last year, the proportion of stroke patients being admitted to a stroke ward within the timescale for thrombolysis has continued to decline. This is putting patient recoveries at risk and strain on the rest of the health system. “We believe that early supported discharge, when done correctly, with adequately resourced community teams, can help to alleviate capacity pressures in acute stroke units. However, this is not a silver bullet. There are longstanding workforce issues which are affecting patient flow in, through and out of stroke units and we call on DHSC to properly address these in the workforce plan.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 2 January 2024 -
News Article
Hospital leads way in using AI to help patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A hospital has introduced a new artificial intelligence system to help doctors treat stroke patients. The RapidAI software was recently used for the first time at Hereford County Hospital. It analyses patients' brain images to help decide whether they need an operation or drugs to remove a blood clot. Wye Valley NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, is the first in the West Midlands to roll out the software. Jenny Vernel, senior radiographer at the trust, said: “AI will never replace the clinical expertise that our doctors and consultants have. "But harnessing this latest technology is allowing us to make very quick decisions based on the experiences of thousands of other stroke patients.” Radiographer Thomas Blackman told BBC Hereford and Worcester that it usually takes half an hour for the information to be communicated. He said the new AI-powered system now means it is "pinged" to the relevant teams' phones via an app in a matter of minutes. "It's improved the patient pathway a lot," he added. Read full story Source: BBC News, 7 December 2023 -
News Article
Stiffer stroke target introduced – despite failure to meet old standard
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The failure of trusts to offer stroke patients the level of rehab required by standards introduced 10 years ago has not prevented the publication of new guidance which demands even higher performance. New guidance has been issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which says recovering stroke patients should receive therapy for at least three hours a day, five days each week. Performance against this standard is not yet measured, but figures analysed by HSJ show nearly all units treating stroke patients are falling well short of the previous NICE standard issued in 2013. This required a much less ambitious 45 minutes per day. The figures suggest it is inconceivable the NHS will meet the new NICE rehab requirements in the near future. When they were launched, NICE said: “It shouldn’t be underestimated how important it is for people who have been left with disabilities following a stroke to be given the opportunity to benefit from the intensity and duration of rehabilitation therapies outlined in this updated guideline.” But Chartered Society of Physiotherapy chief executive Karen Middleton said there was no funding for physios to work on rehab, despite increases in staff supply. “Funding that we know is already limited is being prioritised to other things rather than into rehab,” she said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 November 2023 -
News ArticleA new risk calculator will help to identify people with type 2 diabetes who are at high risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases with greater accuracy than ever before. By spotting high-risk individuals years in advance, doctors will be able to offer vital preventative treatment that can help save lives by warding off future heart attacks and strokes. The risk calculator is included in the new European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines advising doctors on the management of cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes, which were announced at the ESC’s annual Congress in August. There are around 4.5 million people in the UK with type 2 diabetes, and one third of adults with diabetes die from a heart or circulatory disease. The SCORE2-Diabetes risk calculator, published in the European Heart Journal, will allow doctors to estimate the risk of developing a heart or circulatory disease in the next 10 years, with much improved accuracy. Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, our Medical Director, said: “People with diabetes are overall nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease or stroke as those who do not have the condition. "This increased risk can be substantially reduced by interventions such as blood pressure control and statins, but this requires more accurate identification of those at increased risk. “SCORE2-Diabetes is a valuable advance that will allow doctors to tailor pre-emptive treatments for individuals with type 2 diabetes based on their personal risk of heart and circulatory diseases. "Such an approach is vital as clinicians in the UK and across Europe find new ways to reduce the high levels of ill health associated with diabetes.” Read full story Source: British Heart Foundation, 26 November 2023
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News ArticleThousands of stroke patients have suffered avoidable disability because NHS care for them was disrupted during the pandemic, a report claims. Many people who had just had a stroke found it harder to obtain clot-busting drugs or undergo surgery to remove a blood clot from their brain, both of which need to happen quickly. Rehabilitation services, which are vital to help reduce the impact of a stroke, also stopped working normally as the NHS focused on Covid, the Stroke Association said. It is concerned “many could lose out on the opportunity to make their best possible recovery”. Juliet Bouverie, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Strokes didn’t stop because of the pandemic. Despite the tireless efforts of frontline clinicians who have gone to herculean efforts to maintain services under extremely difficult conditions, some treatments still became unavailable and most stroke aftercare ground to a halt. This means more stroke survivors are now living with avoidable, unnecessary disability.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 September 2020
