Cutting this service could be tragically shortsighted

Anyone who has had the terrible misfortune to suffer a stroke, or knows anyone who has had one, will be intimately familiar with just how devastating they are.

A service which has helped more than 2,000 stroke victims over the past 14 years in Portsmouth has teetered on the brink of oblivion.

And while the Stroke Recovery Service, run by The Stroke Association, has now taken a step back from the edge thanks to a six month extension to their contract, which takes them through to January, it is only a temporary stay of execution.

Health and Care Portsmouth still intend to end the contract and the extra six months is to be a period where the service’s users can find an alternative.

Of course, that is not much use to anyone who has a stroke after January…

As the charity’s associate director Jacqui Cuthbert says: ‘The impact of the loss of this service would be devastating to the Portsmouth community and those who are, or will be, affected by stroke.’

Ending the contract is motivated by cost cutting, but could this end up being a false economy?

The service has helped improve the quality of its users lives – preventing readmissions to hospital and providing mental health support.

Without this safety net, if those people end up requiring additional – possibly more serious treatment – further down the line, it will inevitably be more costly to the NHS.

And as we all know, the NHS isn’t exactly flush with money for its services.

These charity-led initiatives help prop up the tragically crumbling edifice of our National Health Service, and without them, it will only exacerbate the existing problems.

We – and the people who run these services – really do deserve better.