As the Department of Health prepares to launch a major stroke awareness campaign, a new report by The Stroke Association highlights St George’s Hospital as a beacon of good practice.

Jon Barrick, Chief Executive for The Stroke Association explains: ‘Just over a year ago the Government issued the National Stroke Strategy which set out the blue print for good stroke care. St George’s is a brilliant example that we hope will be copied everywhere as it highlights a well organised and efficient hospital that saves many lives’.

St George’s has significantly reduced its in-hospital mortality rate as well as the average number of days that a patient stays. This is largely down to the introduction of a specialist stroke unit – the brainchild of Professor Hugh Markus, consultant neurologist at St. George’s who says ‘Neurologists have not been particularly interested in stroke in the past, but that is beginning to change…These changes benefit all patients’.

The Stroke Association’s Getting Better report outlines examples in providing the level of stroke care that ensures everyone who has a stroke, their carers and loved ones get the service they deserve, wherever they live.

It shows how lives can be saved when stroke patients are transferred directly by ambulance to a hospital providing acute stroke services avoiding life threatening delays in A&E.

For more information visit www.stroke.org.uk

Notes to editors

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