Improvements made in stroke services across Wales must continue if patients are to be given the care they need across the country, Assembly Member Joyce Watson has said. Speaking during a debate in the National Assembly for Wales, the Member for Mid and West Wales said that public perception and speech and language therapy should be addressed in order to provide the best possible care.
In 2009, Joyce Watson embarked on a campaign, in conjunction with the Stroke Association, to blood-pressure test 1,000 people across Wales to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining a healthy level of blood pressure. From these tests, roughly 10% of those who took part were shown to have high blood pressure and a further 20% came out as borderline.
Mrs Watson commented: ‘I believe that it is essential that a campaign be launched to better inform the population on the single biggest factor for a stroke, which is high blood pressure. This could be done by introducing blood pressure tests in the workplace in order to uncover what the Stroke Association believe is a significant percentage of the population which suffers from undiagnosed high blood pressure.’
A report from the Health and Wellbeing Committee recommends that there needs to be comprehensive and uniform care for patients once they are at home and left to continue their recovery.
Joyce Watson said, ‘Care for stroke patients needs to be both immediate and sustained and I am glad the Minister has accepted the recommendation to place more emphasis on long-term care as this can have a significant effect on patients’ quality of life.’
