Stroke care concerns

Louise Bours, North West UKIP MEP

Life saving hospital care must be round-the-clock, said UKIP health spokesman Louise Bours today in the wake of a report about stroke care.

This report, commissioned on behalf of NHS England, shows a shortage of stroke doctors and nurses and worryingly there are not enough doctors being trained to fill vacancies.

The minimum recommended level of qualified nurses on duty per 10 stroke patient beds is three but only 50 out of 183 hospitals met that target.

"It also showed that the time of day and day of the week a patient was admitted affected their care, making it a lottery of care. In this day and age top class hospital care should be 24 hours seven days a week.

"With approximately 152,000 strokes every year in the UK it means roughly one stroke every three and a half minutes and this is plainly an area where there must be high staffing ratios to ensure the best possible treatment," said Ms Bours, North West MEP.

"I know that great strides have been made in helping stroke victims and fast treatment has been shown to be essential in dealing with this life-threatening condition. With an ageing population the number of strokes is expected to rise so news of this report is very concerning.

"Another report showing that physiotherapists are assessing 99 per cent of patients who have had a stroke within a day of their hospital admission is good news.

"But there must be a joined-up service and a shortage of doctors and nurses will hinder this. The European Working Time Directive has caused terrible problems with doctor training by limiting their hours and while there is now a voluntary opt-out provision the damage still persists.

"We need more clinicians and less managers and that is where funds must be directed," added Ms Bours.