Hopes high for new stroke service

5:00pm Saturday 29th November 2008

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Hopes are high that a vital service for stroke survivors could be provided from next year.

Assembly Member Joyce Watson is running a campaign to end the “postcode lottery” of stroke provision.

The Stroke Association provides two core services.

Communication support is designed to help stroke patients with communication disabilities while family and carer support provides information, practical help and emotional support.

The services are funded in tandem with health or social services but although Pembrokeshire provides a communication support service, it does not fund family and carer support.

Mrs Watson raised the issue with health managers and has now been told the Stroke Association will be able to apply for a grant towards family and carer support from next year.

The AM was alerted to this issue by a Pembrokeshire constituent – a speech and language therapist who sees the Stroke Association services as essential.

The therapist, who does not wish to be named, said: “We understand that it is part of our role to facilitate communication between the patient and their partner. However, it is becoming increasingly more common for us to be taking on the role of counsellor and support staff to the relatives of those who have had a stroke.

“There are many people who I see, particularly in Pembrokeshire where elderly people come to retire and so have no family living nearby, who live rurally and often only the husband can drive.

“The husband has a stroke and suddenly the wife becomes stranded and isolated. If the husband also has a communication problem this can impact greatly upon her quality of life and there is absolutely no support for people in this kind of situation.”

Trish Hughes, deputy director of Stroke Association Cymru, said: “Stroke is a family illness, and it is not just the person who has suffered the stroke who has to come to terms with living with a sudden disability.”

Mrs Watson said: “I am pleased that there seems to be some progress in Pembrokeshire. Hopefully, stroke survivors will have the same services that my constituents in Carmarthenshire already have. I am determined that other parts of my constituency – Ceredigion and Powys – will follow this example to end the postcode lottery situation in Wales.”