Hansard

I thank my colleague Alexander Stewart for bringing this important debate to the chamber.

I have spoken about the subject before, but this year it is even more important given the extraordinary situation in which we find ourselves. Prior to the Covid pandemic, stroke care had been falling generally in Scotland. The Scottish Government made a commitment in 2019 to address that trend. Covid has exacerbated the issue.

The recent “Stroke recoveries at risk” report tells us about the impact of Covid-19 on stroke survivors and their carers in Scotland. More than half say that they have received less support from health and care services than usual. More than half reported that their therapy had been cancelled or postponed, and two thirds reported feeling more anxious or depressed. Of course, that is a general theme throughout the country, although those concerns are exacerbated by conditions such as having had a stroke.

As members know, I speak a lot in the Parliament about the preventive health agenda, and stroke fits into that well. Scotland has a poor health report card and the impact of Covid on ill health highlights that. A person is more likely to have a poor result from Covid if they suffer from a condition such as having had a stroke. It is important that we tackle that.

As Alexander Stewart said, in Scotland a person is more likely to have a stroke than in any other part of the United Kingdom, they are more likely to have a stroke at a younger age—Scotland’s average age is four years below that of the rest of the UK—they are more likely to die from a stroke, and Scotland has the largest percentage of population who are stroke survivors. We know the scale of the situation in which we find ourselves.

There are, however, some good practices out there that I will highlight. I have spoken before about the stroke physiotherapists in Kilmarnock, who have, with the help of a grant, taken it upon themselves to look at extending the care for stroke survivors beyond the six weeks that they get in hospital. They have taken that rehabilitation into the community and, as well as looking after stroke survivors, they treat a lot of other comorbidities. The group has highlighted to me that there are positive outcomes after strokes.

Prior to the stroke physiotherapists taking their service into the community, they told me that a lot of stroke victims sit at home feeling scared and worried about having another stroke. However, taking the service into the community through the cunning use of a cup of tea and a biscuit, which stroke patients can get to if they do a little bit of physical exercise, helps them to get back into the community and into the mainstream. For some, it can help them to get back to work. That is exactly what we want.

As I said, and as has been well rehearsed in the chamber, Covid has highlighted a major issue regarding the number of conditions that have been impacted by the restrictions that have been put in place. I was contacted by a constituent who said that they feel

“Let down by the system. There was no support at all for stroke survivors in the area. Everyone is having a challenging time just now, but the lives and recoveries of stroke survivors across Scotland have been particularly badly affected. We need you to stand up for us.”

Their call to the Scottish Government is to make urgent progress on the stroke commitments that were made prior to the pandemic and to regularly report to the Parliament so that we all know what is going on. It is vital that people who have been affected by stroke are not forgotten due to the Covid-19 pandemic. That is why I once again thank Alexander Stewart for bringing this important debate to the chamber and enabling us to highlight current issues.