Concern over high number of stroke deaths

Area around resorts has worst figures

HEALTH CHIEFS have been challenged over figures which have revealed that communities on the Yorkshire coast have the worst mortality rates for older people who have had strokes in England.

Figures from Public Health England show Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which covers Scarborough and Filey, as well as villages such as West Ayton, Sherburn and Rillington, has the highest rate of any CCG for deaths from strokes in the over-75s.

The CCG’s rate for 2018 is 899.6 per 100,000 deaths. In neighbouring Vale of York it is 536.7 per 100,000 deaths.

The York Teaching NHS Foundation Trust provides healthcare services for the area and campaigners believe that changes made by the trust in 2015, following difficulties recruiting consultants in Scarborough, are a factor.

While stroke patients living closer to York get taken directly there for specialist care, those nearer Scarborough are first taken to the local hospital for an assessment.

If a stroke is confirmed, they are given clot-busting drugs before being transferred to York. Once patients are stable, they either go home or transfer back to Scarborough for rehabilitative care.

York Teaching NHS Foundation Trust says the figures reflect

differences in demographics, health and social factors, including age, deprivation, smoking and obesity and “are not a measure of the quality of care provided for people suffering a stroke”.

Retired radiographer Robert

Robert Peacock, retired radiographer who worked at Scarborough Hospital.

Peacock, who worked at Scarborough Hospital for a decade, said residents were “very concerned about the impact of more and more acute services being moved to York”.

He added: “The popular perception is that it can’t be a good thing because the longer you wait before you get to a consultant the worse it is in terms of outcome. The data appears to show this has happened.”

NHS advice is that a stroke is a life-threatening condition and urgent treatment is “essential”.

Mr Peacock said ambulances were often queued up at the hospital, affecting the availability of crews to respond to stroke calls.

He said: “When they get there the patient is just one of so many patients blocking trolleys and treatment bays. No-one will tell us how many patients are getting the injection in the three-hour window from the onset of the stroke. All that information is being kept from the public.”

Dr Peter Billingsley, the CCG’s associate clinical chair, said he had originally argued to keep the service in Scarborough, but had changed his mind on seeing the better outcomes.

He added: “The issue is you are much more likely to get home and live independently than you were a few years ago – that’s the bottom line. Instead of coming back to Scarborough so many people we have treated are better so they went back home.

“(It’s the same) with heart attacks we send them to Hull and there are much better outcomes.”

People are concerned about more services being moved to York.