Audit Finds Only 6.4% of Stroke Survivors Receive Recommended Rehabilitation

A new report has found that only a small fraction of stroke survivors receive the level of rehabilitation therapy recommended to support their recovery.

Fewer than one in 15 stroke survivors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive the three hours of therapy a day, at least five days a week, to which they are entitled, according to the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme.

The finding was described as a “damning” indictment of the widespread lack of rehabilitation for patients, which experts said is hindering survivors’ recovery of physical and mental function.

Only 6.4% of those in the three countries who have a stroke received the recommended therapy, down from 7.5% in the final quarter of 2024, the latest annual report showed.

The audit is based on stroke care data from hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Almost 100,000 people a year in the UK have a stroke. It is the single largest cause of complex disability and can leave survivors struggling to walk, talk or swallow. The ageing population and increasing numbers of people with high blood pressure or diabetes could cause the annual figure to rise to 115,483 by 2030.

All stroke patients should receive three hours a day of physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy to aid recovery from the brain injury, whether they are still in hospital or have returned home.

The recommendation comes from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines intended to guide NHS practice in England and Wales, and is also followed in Northern Ireland.

During January to March this year, the latest figures available, only 6.4% of patients received that amount. The average therapy dose was 40 minutes, six minutes less than in late 2024. Some patients received only 15.2 minutes, while the maximum recorded was 57.3 minutes.

In addition, only 68% of patients received continuing rehabilitation help after discharge, the report found.

“These damning figures expose the deeply troubling reality that too many vulnerable stroke survivors are being left without the care and support they need, both in the critical days after their stroke and in the months and years that follow,” said Juliet Bouverie, the Stroke Association’s chief executive.

She added that the brain injury caused by stroke can change every aspect of a person’s life in an instant and last for a lifetime. “Stroke is both a medical emergency and a long-term condition which touches on almost every aspect of NHS and social care. Yet too often, our health and care system focuses on treating the emergency rather than considering the importance of what comes after that – and these shocking statistics reveal the true extent of that,” she said.

Bouverie said services for stroke survivors were already overstretched to breaking point, as the charity published a new report showing that stroke costs the UK an estimated £25.7bn a year.

More than half that sum, £13.7bn, goes towards the social care costs of helping survivors. Wider societal costs, such as people no longer being able to work and relatives having to give up work to care for survivors, amount to another £6.7bn. Welfare benefits to patients and income tax not collected because they had to stop work came to £2.4bn alone, the charity estimated.

The Department of Health and Social Care did not comment on the overwhelming majority of stroke patients who did not receive enough rehabilitation. Instead, it stressed the NHS’s efforts to improve care.

“Hundreds of people every day suffer a stroke, and the NHS is working hard to get them the rapid support and long-term rehabilitation they will often require,” a spokesperson said.

“In our 10-year health plan last year, we pledged to reduce premature mortality from heart disease and stroke by a quarter within a decade, and our cardiovascular disease modern service framework, published in July, aims to accelerate that progress.

“The NHS is also working to increase the delivery of thrombolysis and thrombectomy rates as a key intervention to support improved outcomes in patients who have had a stroke,” they added.

Source link