Hansard

I remind members that I am the co-convener of the cross-party group on heart disease and stroke, and I am also a pharmacist, registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

I thank Alexander Stewart for securing the debate. The motion highlights the significance of stroke in Scotland as

“the third common cause of death and the most common cause of severe physical disability among adults”.

Because of the limited time, I will be very focused, and there are loads of things I will not have time to say.

The first and most obvious thing that I will say is that, as parliamentarians, we can both encourage people and create the conditions that make it easy to live healthier lives. If, as a population, we stop smoking, drink less alcohol, eat healthier food and exercise more, we will all be healthier in many ways and we will definitely suffer fewer strokes.

There are a number of conditions that increase the risk of stroke, two of them being hypertension—high blood pressure—and atrial fibrillation. Hypertension contributes to half of all strokes and members may remember that I held a debate raising awareness of that last month. Yesterday, the cross-party group launched an inquiry into atrial fibrillation in Scotland, which I am hoping that my colleague Colin Smyth will tell us more about in his contribution. Tackling such conditions, which significantly increase the risk of stroke, and improving lifestyle more generally will reduce the number of people who suffer strokes. That is the first thing that we need to do.

On the issue of acute care, I welcome the progress we have made in Scotland and I have confidence that we will move rapidly towards equity of access to the best quality of care across the country, as we have done for post-myocardial infarction care. Stroke is the most common cause of disability in the United Kingdom, and more people surviving a stroke means more people living with the long-term effects of stroke, which in some cases means living with severe physical disability. Neuro-rehabilitation from therapists with expertise in acquired brain injury can have a huge impact and I hope that, in the future, more people will be able to access those specialist physiotherapists and speech and language therapists early in recovery.

I will finish by highlighting that June is aphasia awareness month, as approximately a third of people will suffer aphasia after a having stroke. It also gives me the opportunity to talk about some good friends of mine. Edwyn Collins is a Scottish musical legend, most famous for his worldwide hit “A Girl Like You”. In 2005, at the age of 45, he suffered two haemorrhagic strokes, which resulted in aphasia. I spoke to his wife Grace Maxwell last night when I was preparing for the debate, because I know that their story has inspired many people in similar situations.

I encourage everyone in the chamber to watch the film “The Possibilities are Endless” to learn more about Edwyn’s recovery. Grace Maxwell is absolutely passionate about aphasia. She said that it silences people and isolates them. She also said that Edwyn had lived his whole life not caring about what folk said about him, so he has not been silenced by it.

I will finish on a hopeful note. Recovering from a stroke can be really hard work. One of the common myths that we hear about stroke is that all the recovery happens in the first six months to a year. I am sure that that is why the constituents whom Alexander Stewart talked about felt that they had to reduce rehab after that period. Grace Maxwell assures everyone that, 12 years on, Edwyn Collins is still getting better.