Stroke Sufferers

My hon. Friend often plays the straight man to me, and he has again fed me the perfect line to take me on to raising awareness and prevention. I agree with the points that he made, and I will reinforce them in my next couple of paragraphs. More than 40 per cent. of all strokes could be prevented if people kept their blood pressure under control, monitored cholesterol levels, ate healthily, stopped smoking, and took regular exercise. I am not yet on to awareness; I am talking about prevention. The Government have introduced a programme of vascular checks for 40 to 74-year-olds, which I would like to know a little more about. Will the Minister tell me when I, as a 55-year-old, and perhaps others here can expect to receive our personal invitation for a check under that important step forward? Is it possible to use similar techniques to identify and target those with a family history of or a propensity for strokes and give information on how to avoid them, and what they and their families should do at the outset? The first moments when someone detects that a person does not quite look how they did yesterday are crucial. What can we do to get information to the people in families with a propensity for stroke to enable them to see that action needs to be taken really early and quickly? Will the Minister consider the techniques of direct mail and the use of data tracking to ensure that we get to those people much earlier? Both public and professional awareness of risk factors and symptoms of stroke are frighteningly low. The face, arms and speech test—FAST—relates to some of the key signs to act on early. Someone may notice that a person is not speaking as accurately as they did before, that they have trouble raising an arm or have a slight drooping or tingling of the face. The symptoms of stroke are often not as dramatic as those of a heart attack, in which people may clutch their chest and fall to the ground in agony. However, the symptoms of stroke are of equal importance. If we can act early, we will save thousands of lives and prevent years of unnecessary disability. It is worrying that people do not know—I admit my own ignorance on this—that when a person has a stroke, they should dial 999 in the same way as when someone has a heart attack. That means that a person suffering a stroke can be treated quickly. I have one small quibble with the fantastic people—those in the voluntary sector and the professionals, who do an incredible job—who have provided some of the information for me on this subject. When we are trying to raise awareness, can we please not use acronyms and medical jargon? We should talk in a way that ordinary people understand, so that they can obtain treatment and help themselves and their families. When we talk about TIAs, coronary heart disease, aphasia, vascular, FASTs and so on, it is little wonder that people are confused. If we keep things simple, we will raise awareness throughout the UK in the same way as awareness has been raised of some of the key symptoms of heart attack. The issue of professional awareness also needs to be examined. Some 20 per cent. of GPs admit to not referring one in five cases of mild and major strokes to hospital immediately. It is honest of them to say that, but we need to ensure that they are aware of the issue so that they can rectify the situation and save lives. Last year, the Stroke Association invested £500,000 in a press and radio advertising campaign to raise awareness of the fact that"““stroke is a brain attack””." To implement the kind of sustained wide-ranging campaign that we need to make permanent improvements, the Government must play a role and take the lead, alongside the great work being done by the Stroke Association. I hope that when the Government do that, they will also consider the impact that raising awareness will have because there will obviously be an increased demand on services. I also hope that the Government will consider the impact on stakeholders, including those who offer advice and support to the public, as they may well have a steep increase in requests for their services. I am pleased to say that my city is apparently doing well in relation to strokes. We are already responding to the national strategy and the Nottingham city primary care trust and NHS Nottinghamshire are holding a week-long campaign this week that will encourage people to become more aware of the symptoms of strokes and to change their lifestyle. Nottingham PCT has commissioned community services, such as the new leaf stop smoking scheme, health trainers, exercise referral schemes and food and cooking schemes to support people at risk in the community and encourage them to be more active and eat more healthily. Lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet are important risk factors for stroke. A locally enhanced service, which is basically the incentivisation of GPs, has been commissioned with all GP practices to identify and manage patients who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease. I am happy to say that it includes a partnership scheme with the pharmaceutical industry in Nottingham called ““happy hearts””. That scheme is doing well. The ““change makers”” project also works with local community volunteers to improve awareness of stroke symptoms and risk factors. So, as a result of Government action and colleagues from all parties repeatedly raising the matter—including a debate that took place around 18 months ago on the Floor of the House—we have progressed from a big national strategy to real projects on the ground. What further plans are there to improve public and professional awareness of stroke symptoms and what people should do at the onset of a stroke? Equally important, what plans are there to make those campaigns sustainable? One-offs are really welcome, but it is also important to have a sustained campaign to change our view and the culture surrounding the treatment of stroke. I now come to the point already made by my hon. Friend the. Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) about the need for rapid assessment and treatment. Time is of the essence when treating stroke. According to the Secretary of State, there is a window of only three hours in which stroke patients must be seen, scanned and treated. For each one-minute delay, 2 million neurons are lost from the brain, yet people who know this subject far better than me say that awareness of stroke is at the level of awareness of heart disease that existed 10 years ago. We still have a lot more to do, but that does not mean we need bags more money—of course, resources are always welcome—but the Royal College of Physicians has clearly stated:"““we do not necessarily need more resourses just better organisation of what we have already””."