A study indicated that six out of ten stroke victims endure dangerously long waits to be examined in a specialized unit.
During the first three months of this year, just 38.3% of A&E patients were admitted within the necessary four hours after their arrival.
The average wait time was five hours and seventeen minutes.
Labour analyzed data from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
About 100,000 strokes occur annually in the United Kingdom, resulting in 34,000 deaths.
Charlotte Nicholls from the Stroke Association stated, “Getting to a stroke unit is crucial for receiving timely and proper care.”
In England, the George Eliot Hospital in Birmingham had the longest median wait time for a stroke patient to be admitted to a specialized unit, at more than nine times the recommended maximum.
It was followed by Warwick Hospital, which had a median waiting time of more than 26 hours, Bedford Hospital and Pilgrim Hospital in the East Midlands, which both had statistics of more than 25 hours, and finally, Leicester Royal Infirmary, which had a median waiting time of fewer than 24 hours.
The Princess Of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, Wales, has a median wait time of over 41 hours, the highest of any hospital in the United Kingdom.
The Glan Clwyd District General Hospital in Denbighshire followed with a figure of almost 29 hours.
The statistics also revealed that the average time between hospital arrival and thrombolysis, a vital treatment for preventing disability, was essentially the same in all three countries as it was last year, at 52 minutes – two minutes faster than in 2021.
The stroke association suggests administering thrombolysis within four and a half hours of the onset of stroke symptoms.
In England, the average response time for category two calls, which include suspected heart attacks and strokes, is 40 minutes, which is more than double the 18-minute objective set by the government, according to the most recent statistics.
To save lives, Public Health England revived its Act FAST campaign last year, asking everyone to take immediate action upon noticing any stroke symptoms.
It stated, “Early treatment not only saves lives but also increases the likelihood of a better recovery and reduces the likelihood of lasting impairment from a stroke.”
“Today, Public Health England (PHE), in partnership with the Stroke Association, is relaunching the Act FAST campaign to educate the public of the symptoms of a stroke and the importance of phoning 999 immediately to save lives.
Every minute that a stroke goes untreated, around 1.9 million nerve cells are destroyed in the brain, which can lead to impaired speech and paralysis. A stroke can result in lasting disability or death if left untreated.
