Hansard

I thank Rona Mackay for securing this members’ business debate today, more so because it is the first time that aphasia has been debated as a stand-alone issue in the Scottish Parliament. I welcome one of my constituents, Nancy Bannon, who is in the gallery with other members of Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s aphasia reference group. I also thank Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and the Stroke Association for their briefings for the debate.

The recognition of this issue within the Scottish Parliament has been called an “historic event” by the reference group, as Rona Mackay referred to, but I feel that recognition is a long time coming. We, in this place, must stop procrastinating, and we must use this debate as a stepping stone to do more to combat the condition of aphasia and to support people who suffer from it.

I believe that, in order to do that, we have to take one step back and look at the main causes of aphasia and at what we can do to prevent it from happening in the first place. The phrase “prevention is better than cure” has never applied more, and we must move towards preventative medicine wherever possible.

As Ms Mackay mentioned in her opening remarks, aphasia is a language and speech disorder that happens when the language centres of the brain are damaged. Aphasia does not affect a person’s intelligence, but people have difficulty finding and saying what they want to say, and they have trouble understanding other people. There are challenges with reading, writing and numbers, and everyday tasks such as using the telephone, asking for directions and socialising become particularly frustrating.

I ask members to imagine what that must be like: you know what you want to say, but you cannot say it. You are literally trapped inside your own head, and basic communication with loved ones or friends is challenging at best. You are, in effect, locked in. I cannot comprehend how that must feel.

That is why CHSS’s course on “Living well with aphasia”, as the motion says,

“focuses on giving stroke survivors the information, skills and resources to live well with the condition”.

That is vital, and I applaud CHSS’s support in that regard. I also call on the Government to improve access to supported self-management and rehabilitation services for people who are living with aphasia.

What is most concerning is that all that comes from damage to the brain, possibly from a head injury but more commonly derived from stroke. There are currently around 150,000 people in Scotland who are living with the effects of stroke, and 50,000 people are living with aphasia as a result. We know that 10,000 strokes occur in Scotland annually; that Scotland has the highest stroke incidence in the United Kingdom; that outcomes are poorer here than in the other UK nations; and that stroke is the leading cause of adult disability. Those are shocking statistics, so we must end the cycle through affirmative action.

I have spoken many times in the chamber about the need for a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week national thrombectomy service in Scotland. It was in the Government’s “Stroke Improvement Plan 2023”, but we are no further forward in seeing that being implemented on the ground.

The early removal of a clot reduces the amount of the brain that is damaged, and many patients fully recover to lead full and productive lives. It is estimated that each patient treated by thrombectomy saves the national health service around £47,000 per patient in on-going support. However, if someone has a stroke at 5.30 on a Friday afternoon, their chances of recovering fully are drastically reduced.

In my closing remarks, I say to the minister that, as much as I join other members today in recognising aphasia, I believe that a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week national thrombectomy service would go a long way to reducing not only the numbers of stroke victims and what they have to put up with, but the numbers of those with aphasia. I urge the Government to stand by its 2023 commitment for them all.