What do you expect when there are no published stroke rehabilitation protocols with efficacy percentages? It becomes quite obvious to survivors that their doctors know absolutely nothing about how to get them to recovery. They are just 'winging it' all the time. Or you solve the neuronal cascade of death and as a result of that you have much less disability.
“Abandoned” stroke survivors need better longer-term care, expert says
Stroke patients need better long-term support to ensure their health
and social care needs are met and prevent them feeling “abandoned”, a
University of Leeds expert says.
Speaking on World Stroke Day (October 29), Professor Anne Forster,
from the School of Medicine, one of the UK’s leading experts in care for
stroke patients, suggests that although survival rates have improved
significantly, with stroke mortality rates halving over the last 20
years, more needs to be done to safeguard the long-term welfare of
stroke patients and their families.
Professor Forster said: “There are many stroke patients who feel
abandoned and lost once they are discharged from hospital. In many
cases, they may only receive three months of after-care, even though
national clinical guidelines recommend a review of their condition after
six months.
“But there is no defined care pathway for these patients and their
families after a short period of post-hospital rehabilitation. The UK is
very good at looking after patients in a hospital setting but it is the
responsibility of clinical commissioning groups to make sure the
longer-term needs of stroke patients and their carers are met.”
In the UK, someone suffers a stroke every five minutes and one in
five strokes is fatal. Strokes are caused either by a blockage on a
blood vessel, which accounts for about 85% of cases, or bleeding in the
brain, which accounts for the other 15%.
A third of stroke patients suffer some physical impairment as a
result of a stroke, with a third left prone to depression. Patients can
require help with mobility, managing emotions and maintaining
relationships.
Professor Forster leads on the Lots2Care programme, a
research project which is working with centres in England to trial
interventions to address the longer-term needs of stroke survivors and
their families.
She added: “My research group, based in Bradford and Leeds, is trying
to examine ways in which the longer-term unmet needs of stroke
survivors can be identified and addressed, but that’s just the tip of
the iceberg. What’s required is a nationally co-ordinated programme so
that everyone, stroke survivors and health professionals, has a clearly
defined longer-term care pathway to work to.”
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