In the UK, Around 150,000 people a year suffer a stroke and 53,000 die annually. It is one of the most common causes of disability with 450,000 stroke survivors left severely disabled in England. In America around 795,000 suffer strokes and around 140,000 die yearly. The percentages are drastically different. In the UK, approximately 33 percent die from strokes, while in the US only 18 percent die.
Is the fact that the UK's NHS is failing in their responsibility to properly monitor stroke patients who need regular checkups. Patients are sent home and the responsibility is on the family to monitor, heal and rehabilitate stroke patients back to a normal life. In many cases patients are not receiving proper monitoring and statistics show that a second stroke will likely appear in 3 months and death within one year if proper lifestyle changes are not made.
Why are Hospitals Abandoning Patients
Why are hospitals abandoning patients so quickly when there is a need for help. Patients should be re-examined in six weeks, then again in 6 months and then yearly to make sure there are no rising concerns that need to be addressed. Is this a UK problem or is this a problem worldwide?
More and more hospitals are following this same trend. In the Middle East where I live, many stroke patients are released from the hospital within 24 hours and sent home for the family to handle their medical care. Many are told that there is nothing they can do to help. The first 7 days are extremely critical with stroke patients and medical attention is warranted to monitor things like swelling brain, high blood pressure and sugar problems.
Patients are released back to the society that made them sick in the first place. No instruction is given for proper diet, supplementation or healthy exercise programs. They are given pharmaceutical medicines, aspirin, which is proven not to stop a stroke and other anti-coagulant drugs and told, "Don't worry, you will be fine."
The system is set up to empty hospital beds and forget about the sick. According to The Telegraph article, But many stroke survivors tell us that after all the effort to save their lives they then feel abandoned when they return home.
Budget Cuts Causing Hospitals to Ignore the Needs of Stroke Victims
"The NHS and local authorities are failing in their responsibilities to provide appropriate and timely support to stroke survivors and their families; and the growing evidence of cuts for people currently getting services is very worrying.”
Is it all amounting to a budget or the need to cut funds. Since when does the overall system realize that stroke victims need help for months, not hours. Doctors want to discard a person who they clam cannot be helped. Patients with continual swelling brain problems are told to relax and take a pain pill.
Luckily there is help available for those who want to treat their cases naturally. Read my article on how to treat a Stroke or TIA with Nigella sativa.
My neighbor had a stroke and was sent home and told they did not have a stroke. His left side of his face had collapsed, but the system of you will be fine is worldwide, not just here. According the the article in The Telegraph it only makes financial sense to help patients to heal completely so they are not readmitted back to the hospital with another stroke, heart attack or worse.
Some patients live for years and years confined to a bed and then some with proper training and rehabilitation are able to go back to normal lives again. Many stroke victims will suffer a second or third stroke and survive to cause families to harbor the burden and maybe in some cases cause the stroke patient to be in worse condition. The "eat something you will feel better," therapy lies in many households. Chances are the food was the cause of the stroke in the first place.
Phil Gray, chief executive of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said."Specialist physiotherapy services after leaving hospital play a critical role in helping stroke survivors regain mobility, independence, and enable those in employment to return to work. That is why demand for physiotherapy is so high among stroke survivors."
A World in Need of Help
In a world where more help is needed, we are seeing a trend to abandon, ignore and sometimes send the patient home to die in their homes. Patients who do not have high blood pressure or sugar problems are ignored and told they did not have a stroke. When doctors cannot find a quick solution, the only solution is that the patient is merely crazy or having a bad day.
Destiny plays a part in what is going on, but society as a whole must take responsibility for the sick and those who are in desperate need for assistance. More and more countries are outlawing natural remedies when it is apparent the only correct solution is treatment with natural remedies which have little or no side effects. Is it not time to assess truly the nation as a whole? Just how many people in the morques are there that could have been saved?
Here is a comment by a stroke survivor: Having had a stroke in 2008 this article is correct .The aftercare is patchy to say the least . It is virtually impossible to have all the agencies , healthcare , and social assistance to act as one . I believe all the components are there, but do not operate in concert . It's more luck and strength of will , together with family support that gets people literally back on their feet ."
It is not our intention to pick solely on the NHS in the UK, but to show that this is a worldwide problem. Once a stroke survival is seen as not normal or a hindrance to society, they are treated differently. Total recovery is possible with proper help, guidance and knowledge.
Resources:
The Telegraph - UK
Stroke Center.org
Stroke.org-uk