South East stroke patients to ‘miss out on a miracle treatment’

Health and Social Care

“Thrombectomy is a miracle treatment that pulls patients back from near-death”

A new report by the Stroke Association released today warns that thousands of people who have a stroke in South East England could miss out on a game changing acute treatment which dramatically cuts the risk of death or serious disability.

With “mechanical thrombectomy”, clots blocking the supply of blood to the brain can be physically plucked out, rather than that standard treatment using drugs to slowly dissolve them.

But NHS England has missed its original target to make thrombectomy available to all patients for whom it would benefit – only treating a quarter (28%) of all suitable patients by March 2022. This means that nationally more than 47,000 would miss out over the next seven years.

Doctors carrying out the thrombectomy insert a catheter into the patient’s groin, guiding it up through an artery to the brain and then pulling the clot out.

The procedure vastly reduces disability and has been known to reduce hospital stay by many months, with some patients being able to leave the next day, rather than spending months in in-patient rehab.

It is carried out at three hospitals in the South East: Southampton Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. Some patients from the South East are sent to London hospitals for their thrombectomy.

Southampton General carried out 78 thrombectomies in the year 2020/21, and John Radcliffe 49. Both work extended hours including weekends. The Royal Sussex County, which only offers thrombectomy Monday to Friday during office hours, carried out 17.

The Stroke Association is calling for more funding from the Government and a workforce plan from NHS England to provide more staff and equipment to make the procedure available everywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Kathy Blythe, associate director at the Stroke Association, said hospital staff could be proud of the services they were providing and knew what a difference it could make if they were expanded.

“Thrombectomy is a miracle treatment that pulls patients back from near-death and alleviates the worst effects of stroke. It’s shocking that so many patients are missing out and being saddled with unnecessary disability.

“Other areas of the South East would very much like to offer the procedure and are working hard to explore options to set up a service,” said Kathy.

“Importantly, NHS England must address challenges in transferring patients to and between hospitals in its upcoming Urgent & Emergency Care Plan.”

The procedure can be performed up to 24 hours of symptoms starting, but it is most effective within the first six hours. The sooner it is carried out the better results can be, which means that making sure ambulances are available to take patients to hospital and between hospitals is vital to a good recovery.

Recent average wait times for the  South Central Ambulance Service were 43 minutes, 28 seconds, while South East Coast Ambulance Service were an average of 35 minutes, 31 seconds, – both well above the 18 minute target for stroke calls.

  • For every 10 minutes of delay, the procedure has a 1% reduction in chance of patient benefit
  • For every minute a stroke goes untreated, 1.9 million brain cells die
  • More than one in eight (13.2%) of strokes are fatal
  • Two-thirds of stroke survivors leave hospital with a disability

The Stroke Association also calls for NHS regions to act on their Thrombectomy Quality Review to solve pathway issues holding back improvements to their thrombectomy rate.

  • There are over 75,000 strokes in England every year.
  • Approx. one in 10 (10%) of all stroke patients – stroke where the clot is trapped in a larger blood vessel – would benefit from a thrombectomy
  • Almost four in 10 (39%) thrombectomy patients experience reduced disability as a result of the procedure.

The Stroke Association are also calling on the public to sign an open letter calling on UK Government to act on the recommendations in its Saving Brains report, and make thrombectomy available as soon as possible, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for everyone who needs it. Sign the open letter here.