Hansard

I thank my colleague Alexander Stewart for bringing the subject for debate this evening.

Every 45 minutes someone in Scotland has a stroke. About half of survivors are left with lasting disability. Survival rates continue to improve—the number of people who live after having had a stroke is growing. Therefore, more people than ever need long-term community-based support, which the NHS cannot provide.

Stroke is the biggest cause of disability, and its impact is on physical health and mental health, too, in that it leaves people at risk of anxiety, depression, social isolation and loneliness. In the early post-stroke stage, life cannot be just as it was and people who are affected might need assistance to cope with the frustrations that an enforced new lifestyle can bring. Not being able to do simple or previously enjoyed tasks, a feeling of inadequacy, and dependence on others can all have undermining effects.

The shift by the Scottish Government and the NHS towards self-management within communities is welcome, but it must be matched by investment. Charities including Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland are key to delivery of such support.

National statistics show a continuing long-term downward trend in Scotland’s mortality rates from stroke, which is welcome and reflects the medical advances that have been made over the past generation; over the decade up to 2016, the mortality rate for stroke decreased by 39 per cent. The challenge now is that more people than ever—some 124,000 in Scotland—are living with the long-term effects of stroke, and half of them have a disability. Given our ageing population, the number will continue to increase.

There are 14,797 stroke survivors in the NHS Lanarkshire area. The NHS is able to treat acute incidents and keep people alive after a stroke, but many people live with the effects for the rest of their lives. The life-changing effects of having a stroke cannot be underestimated, and without on-going support people are more likely to be readmitted to hospital and to visit their general practitioner more frequently.

When people return from hospital they often feel abandoned by the system and have little dedicated support. Third sector organisations such as Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland pay an increasingly vital role in providing community support.

The Government’s strategic shift is quite rightly away from acute care to community care, and towards people being able to live full lives at home. However, support systems or pathways need to be in place within communities in order to meet that aspiration.

In six health board areas—Highland, Grampian, Fife, Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway and Lanarkshire—Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland works in partnership with the board to provide specialist stroke nurses. Several other health boards provide stroke nurses, but the scope of their services is more limited. The impact of a stroke on a person clearly goes far beyond the immediate physical implications and extends into every aspect of their life.

Around a quarter of people who have had a stroke are of working age. The third sector has a key role in providing the broader holistic support that people need, which can help them to return to work, if they are able to do so, and can support their families.

Having a stroke causes a person to reassess their lifestyle. It is good to know that organisations such as the Stroke Association and Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland are there to provide the vital information that people need when they are recovering from a stroke. The debate gives me the opportunity, on behalf of countless others, to thank those organisations for everything that they do to help victims of stroke.