The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7376 p625
19 November 2005

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

NAO: improve stroke care

Improvements in preventing, treating and managing stroke are needed, a report by the National Audit Office concludes (PDF 1.5 MB).

One of the report’s recommendations is that rates of thrombolysis in England (which currently stand at below 1 per cent) are brought in line with some Australian hospitals (which have rates of around 9 per cent). The report states that thrombolytic drugs can improve patients’ chances of recovery but are rarely part of acute stroke care in England.

A study published by The Lancet this week reveals that the clinical burden of stroke and transient ischaemic attack in the UK is now greater than that of coronary heart disease.