Stroke Sufferers

My hon. Friend has put it more eloquently than I can. I am not going to say that everyone will be as right as rain, but if we get to people early and give them the right treatment, they can go on to lead a full and productive life. In essence, during a stroke parts of the brain lose oxygen, which is the source of life for the brain. The longer the brain is left to suffocate, the greater the damage that will take place and the greater chance there is of irreparable damage. Early intervention is really important. My hon. Friend has clearly described the stark contrast between what happens if a stroke is dealt with quickly and what happens if it is not dealt with quite so expeditiously. Nigel Mason of GE Healthcare goes further than the Royal College of Physicians and says"““reconfiguring staff and procedures for a daily two-hour immediate access clinic would save lives and generate £42 million savings as well””." We all care about the individuals concerned, but even if we consider the matter purely in terms of a sensible way to manage resources, we can save immense amounts of money by getting it right. There are many other examples of that. Stroke patients are around 25 per cent. more likely to survive, they make a better recovery and they spend six days less in hospital if they are admitted to a stroke unit, rapidly assessed and receive specialist care from a multi-disciplinary team. The national stroke strategy sets a clear standard to ensure that effective urgent care is in place, including transfer to an acute stroke centre that provides scans and thrombolysis—I hope I have got the pronunciation correct—where appropriate. The medical profession will shriek at this, but, for ordinary mortals, thrombolysis is basically souped-up aspirin. The national stroke strategy also refers to prompt admission to a specialist stroke unit. All those things in a line mean that we have done a great deal to reduce the number of deaths and disabilities arising from strokes. In addition, oe of the hopes in the strategy is for more specialist stroke nurses to be available. We are only a year into the strategy, but perhaps the Minister will give an indication of when he hopes to have complete coverage, and when every hospital will have a stroke nurse. With regard to thrombolysis, which is probably better known to people in the business as clot-buster drugs, the Secretary of State said last year:"““Right now, less than 1 per cent. of people who have a stroke are receiving thrombolysis. If we can get that number up to 10 per cent., 1,000 people a year would regain their independence, rather than die or be disabled for life. By following the guidelines set out in this strategy, 1,600 potential strokes can be averted through preventive work and a further 6,800 deaths and disabilities can be avoided.””" What a prize for something so simple and inexpensive; 6,800 deaths and disabilities could be avoided. Clot-busting, thrombolytic drugs can be the difference between someone leaving hospital on foot and beginning a lifetime in a wheelchair. In Ontario, 37 per cent. of patients get clot busters. Will the Minister bring us up to date on the level of use of clot-busting drugs in this country? The Secretary of State said more than a year ago that it was less than 1 per cent., but I am sure that that figure has improved. Perhaps the Minister will tell us how well we are doing and what the curve is. I do not expect the figure to leap to 37 per cent., but we would like to know what the curve is to ensure that people receive those very simple drugs at the moment when they need them most.