The UK government today unveiled a new national stroke strategy aimed at saving almost 7,000 lives a year and preventing much severe disability.

10-year plan to reduce stroke deaths

Extract from The Guardian:

"The government today unveiled a new national stroke strategy aimed at saving almost 7,000 lives a year and preventing many more people from becoming permanently disabled.

Stroke - a blood clot or bleeding in the brain - is the cause of 50,000 deaths a year, and many more are left disabled by it.

It is a bigger killer of women than breast cancer, but has been the poor relation of some other high-profile diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, when it comes to prevention and treatment.

The 10-year strategy aims to redress the imbalance by raising public awareness of the early signs of stroke as well as speeding up access to brain scans and drug treatment. The measures could prevent up to 6,800 deaths each year.

The health minister, Alan Johnson, will today set out a 10-year plan designed to ensure that urgent action is taken to identify those at risk of a major stroke and ensure preventive action and much faster treatment.

The strategy calls for fast access to MRI scans for those suffering mini strokes - known as transient ischaemic attacks - which provide a strong indication that someone will, at some point, have a full stroke.

Anyone at high risk of a full stroke because of their age, blood pressure or other factors who suffers a minor stroke must be given an MRI scan within 24 hours. Low-risk individuals must have a scan within seven days.

This will require a substantial improvement on existing services. Currently, less than 35% of hospitals provide a scan within seven days, whatever the patient's level of risk.

However, speeding up the response in this way could prevent 80% of full strokes."

Reducing salt/sodium intake is a simple way to reduce your risk of a stroke.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

Wider implications of the flawed theory that excess calorie intake causes obesity

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Huge toll of avoidable suffering and deaths because of blunders in NHS hospitals. - A million are harmed each year. - I am one of those harmed.

From the Telegraph -

Hospital blunders 'kill 90,000 patients'

Extracts:

"More than 90,000 patients die and almost one million are harmed each year because of hospital blunders, research suggests.

Errors during surgery, misdiagnosis, falls, infections and complications are all to blame for the problems that contribute to the death and injury tolls in England each year.

Researchers found that between 8.7 per cent and 10 per cent of hospital stays involved such mistakes and up to a half were preventable.

Prof Trevor Sheldon, the author of the study published in the British Medical Journal, said a stay in hospital was as "risky as bungee jumping".

He examined medical notes from one hospital over six months and said the results were representative of what is happening across the country.

In 15 per cent of cases the adverse event led to impairment or disability that lasted for more than six months and increased the average stay in hospital by eight days.

The study did not include patients who were in hospital for less than a day, had mental health problems or gave birth.

There were 9.1 million hospital stays in England in 2005/6 if day case, maternity and mental health patients are not included and Prof Sheldon's figures mean 910,303 of these patients suffered harm as a result of a blunder. In 91,030 cases it contributed to their death."

"Errors included a patient at high risk of blood clots who was not given blood thinners, an avoidable delay in diagnosing cancer, a patient addicted to painkillers after being prescribed them repeatedly and a spleen that was torn during surgery, leaving the patient needing treatment for life.

Peter Walsh, of Action against Medical Accidents, a charity, said the real figures could be much higher as the research does not include incidents in General Practice, ambulance trusts or mental health and covers only England.

A Health Department spokesman said patient safety had long been a priority. "It is important to remember that serious failures are uncommon in relation to the volume of care provided by the NHS."

And remember - a great deal of medical negligence and poor care of patients is not recorded...

Amazing that the Health Department spokesman said patient safety had long been a priority and that it is important to remember that serious failures are uncommon in relation to the volume of care provided by the NHS! - This is so manifestly untrue that one can only assume that the spokesman has not yet read the report...(o:

I know personally all too well that patient safety is by no means a priority in the NHS. I have been in great pain and substantially disabled for 3 months now because my reporting excruciating pain and great swelling, including a huge blue 'hump' on the back of my right hand, was effectively disregarded by the many (dozens?) healthcare staff I informed. Having broken my right humerus at the end of August, I am still unable to use my right hand and lift my right wrist and am in very great pain with it. This is because I had to wait 12 and a half days before my arm was operated upon, and during that long, intensely painful time the hand and lower arm became extremely swollen because of the splint I had to wear, and the radial nerve was damaged. I also have lymphoedema in the arm. I now have to have carers come to help me get washed and dressed and undressed...)o: - As a steroid victim with fragile thin skin and delicate veins already, I did not need to be further harmed by the NHS...)o:

British stroke patients are 'dying from poor treatment'

Stroke patients 'dying from poor treatment' - Telegraph

Extract:

"Stroke victims are "dying unnecessarily" because Britain provides some of the worst treatment in Europe.

Despite spending just as much if not more on stroke services, more patients die and suffer serious disability than elsewhere, warned a neuroscience expert.

Professor Hugh Markus, of the Centre for Clinical Neuroscience, St George's University of London, says stroke is treated as a "Cinderella" subject.

He writes in the British Medical Journal today that the UK spends the majority of its stroke money on nursing and rehabilitation.

But if more investment was directed at treating the stroke immediately, it could avoid many deaths and cases of severe disability and so reduce the cost of nursing care.

Stroke must be treated as an emergency because patients who have a brain scan and start treatment with clot-busting drugs within three hours have a better chance of surviving and making a fuller recovery. But many hospitals struggle to carry out a scan within 24 hours.

It was estimated that 550 lives could be saved each year and 1,700 patients spared disability if care was improved.

Just one in 100 stroke patients get thrombolytic treatment compared with up to 30 per cent in some European countries, America and Australia."

Reduce your risk of stroke and lose weight and improve your health in many ways by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.