Hansard

I am delighted to respond to the debate on behalf of the Government. I thank Alexander Stewart for lodging the motion to secure the debate and members of all parties for their speeches.

Mr Stewart is absolutely right about the importance of raising awareness of stroke and I join him in his acknowledgement of world stroke day. I also wish to acknowledge the important findings of the “Stroke recoveries at risk” report published by the Stroke Association, which has been mentioned by several members. I fully agree that stroke has a significant impact on people across Scotland and that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated that impact.

Stroke is the third most common cause of death in Scotland and the most common cause of severe physical disability among adults. The condition has a significant impact on NHS resources, accounting for approximately 5 per cent of total NHS costs. It has an even higher societal cost. The personal impact on people who experience a stroke and on their family members and friends is massive, as James Dornan and Beatrice Wishart outlined.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that people who have had a stroke receive the best possible care, as quickly as possible, to enable them to live longer, healthier, and independent lives. To achieve that, we continue to implement our stroke improvement plan, which sets out our priorities for improving diagnosis, treatment and care for stroke. We also continue to support the Scottish stroke improvement programme. That enables us to ensure that NHS boards appropriately plan and deliver the high-quality, safe and effective stroke services that people in Scotland expect and deserve.

Significant progress has been made. As James Dornan said, the mortality rate for stroke has decreased by 35.2 per cent in the past 10 years and the number of new cases of cerebrovascular disease, which includes stroke, has fallen by 12 per cent over the same period. That shows that our plan for tackling stroke is delivering real improvements. However, we want to continue to make progress on that and we will do so.

David Stewart outlined the medical benefits of thrombectomy. As Alexander Stewart and others noted, the first step towards a national thrombectomy service for stroke patients was taken yesterday with the launch of a pilot for the north of Scotland in NHS Tayside. Kenneth Gibson outlined how that would be rolled out for the rest of Scotland. It is important that that life-saving procedure is available across Scotland.

I am also pleased to let the Parliament know that Professor Martin Dennis has been appointed as the chief medical officer’s speciality adviser for stroke care and that Dr Fiona Wright has been appointed as deputy speciality adviser for stroke. Both advisers are tasked with progressing the programme for government commitments to which members have referred.

Work is under way to review the current stroke care bundle and to scope out what a progressive stroke unit will look like. We are working closely with our third sector partners, Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, and the Stroke Association, across all our commitments on stroke. We are particularly grateful for their work with us to ensure that people with lived experience of stroke are closely involved as we make progress against those commitments.

Mr Stewart, Mr Dornan and others mentioned Covid-19. We are all too aware of the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on all our lives. Some have faced the personal experience of ill health, some have lost a loved one and everyone has had to deal with the impact of restrictions and adapting to a very different way of life. Brian Whittle and Kenneth Gibson mentioned the “Stroke recoveries at risk” report, which details how the pandemic has affected every aspect of stroke treatment and care and has had a significant impact on people living with stroke.

The recent publication of the Public Health Scotland report on the underlying causes of excess deaths in Scotland during the Covid-19 pandemic by area deprivation, clearly shows us the impact that Covid has had on those living with underlying health conditions. I recognise that Mr Whittle has a particular interest in that area. It is important for us to fully understand the situation. That is why we are working with Public Health Scotland and National Records of Scotland on a programme of research to understand the wider impact of Covid-19 on Scotland’s population.

Kenneth Gibson mentioned the “Stroke recoveries at risk” report’s recommendations on access to mental health provision and support for carers. Those are important areas and the pandemic has had an impact on people’s mental health and wellbeing. That impact is likely heightened for people who are living with, or caring for someone with, a long-term health condition, such as stroke. To respond to those challenges, the Scottish Government has worked with organisations from across Scotland to create a new online hub that provides a range of resources to help carers look after their physical and mental health. I encourage anyone concerned to look at that and the range of other support that is available.

I would like to conclude by acknowledging again that, despite progress over the past decade, stroke continues to have a significant impact on people in Scotland. Further to that, it is clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has created pressure on healthcare services and affected service delivery in a variety of ways.?That has undoubtedly had an impact on people living with stroke and on the services that provide diagnosis, treatment and care to those people.

The Scottish Government continues to learn from our experiences throughout the pandemic. Kenneth Gibson outlined some of the innovations that have been brought about because of the pandemic. Some of those may continue after the pandemic to improve people’s experience, although perhaps they will be a bit less virtual and a bit more blended. However, the experience has been positive. We continue to support healthcare services to build on the new and innovative ways in which they have responded to the challenges during this time to remobilise services, which we hope will minimise future delays.

Alongside that, through our programme for government commitments, we continue to drive improvement in diagnosis, care, treatment and support for people with stroke, taking into account the legacy of Covid-19. By combining our efforts and working with partners, we can make a real difference to those living with stroke in Scotland. I look forward to continuing those constructive and productive discussions and to continuing our improvement of stroke outcomes in Scotland.