Vow to prioritise stroke services
Updated on 09 July 2007
Health Secretary Alan Johnson launched a new drive to modernise stroke services today, saying they had not received the priority they deserved.
He launched a consultation on the issue, to be led by heart and stroke tsar Professor Roger Boyle, and will publish a strategy on stroke care later in the year.
Specialist services lag behind cancer and heart disease despite strokes being the third biggest killer in England, he said.
And he pledged to make sure doctors and patients were listened to in shaping the future of NHS care.
As he and Prof Boyle toured King's College Hospital in south London, he said: "King's is a centre of excellence and I think this demonstrates the kind of care we want to see offered across the country.
"We think stroke care has not had the priority across the country it deserves. We have concentrated on cancer and heart disease, we have had to deal with the priorities. But now it's time to make stroke an absolute priority."
He denied there had been too much focus on targets for cancer and heart disease but said it was now time to turn to the third biggest killer.
"A total of 110,000 people a year will get a stroke and 50,000 people will die."
There was a greater need to raise public awareness of strokes, because people often did not recognise symptoms or left it too long before seeking help, he said.
But there was no indication that extra cash would be poured directly into stroke services. "It's not particularly about money," he said. "There's a lot of extra money going into the health service."
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