Directly standardised rate of hospital admissions for stroke in the elderly per 100,000 population aged 65 and over.
Stroke is the third biggest cause of death in the UK and the largest single cause of severe disability. Stroke has a devastating and lasting impact on the lives of people and their families. Individuals often live with the effects for the rest of their lives. A third of people who have a stroke are left with long-term disability. Each year more than 110,000 people in England will suffer from a stroke which costs the NHS over £2.8 billion and £7 billion to the economy overall. Outcomes in the UK compare poorly internationally, despite services being among the most expensive, with unnecessarily long lengths of stay and high levels of avoidable disability and mortality. The Department of Health recognised the importance of developing better stroke services by including specific milestones, targets and actions in the National Service Framework (NSF) for Older People launched in March 2001. Following on from this, the Department of Health has developed a new strategy for stroke services in England. Among the aims are to improve public and professional awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of a stroke, and what action to take. Lack of awareness of stroke is a significant problem. People do not know what a stroke is, what the symptoms are, or that it is a treatable disease that warrants the same response as a heart attack. Nor do they know what their own risk of having a stroke is, how too reduce that risk, or that stroke is largely preventable. It is known that fast response to stroke reduces the risk of death and disability. However, this cannot be delivered without recognition of the symptoms of stroke and without responsive systems. To initiate an emergency response to a suspected stroke, it is crucial that staff who have contact with the public are able to recognise the symptoms of stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) even when they cannot see the individual, and that they all share a common understanding of the importance of dealing with stroke as rapidly as possible.
This indicator has been discontinued and so there will be no further updates.
Legacy unique identifier: P01042