Europe Launches Ambitious Plan to Elevate Stroke Care

FUCKING USELESS! 'CARE' NOT 'RESULTS'.  Does no one want to tackle stroke BHAGs(Big Hairy Audacious Goals) of 100% recovery for all survivors?  Or are you all too chickenshit to even acknowledge that everything in stroke is a failure.
Bo Norrving shouldn't be commenting at all, I saw nothing he accomplished when he was president of the WSO.
YOU need to get involved, you can't leave this up to stroke medical professionals, they came up with the inadequate Helsingborg declarations.

Helsingborg 1996

Helsingborg 2006

 

Europe Launches Ambitious Plan to Elevate Stroke Care 

GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Improving access to specialized stroke expertise, elevating the quality of care for all Europeans by 2030, and setting research priorities are the focus of an ambitious collaborative project led by the European Stroke Organisation.

Four overarching targets of the new Stroke Action Plan for Europe (2018 - 2030) include reducing the number of strokes in Europe by 10%, treating 90% or more of all patients in a dedicated stroke unit, creating national plans that address stroke from prevention to life after stroke, and promoting strategies that reduce stroke risk on a population level.  

These targets were announced here at the 4th European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) 2018.

Action is needed because less than half of the population now has access to specialized stroke care, organizers say. Current capacity contributes to this challenge.

"The biggest problem is there are not enough stroke centers in Europe," Bo Norrving, MD, professor of neurology at Lund University in Sweden and chair of the stroke action plan, told Medscape Medical News during a media briefing here at ESOC. "The second problem is the best available are not enough — patients come to our hospitals and are placed on the wrong ward."

The insufficient number of stroke unit beds signals a major disconnect between specialized stroke resources and the magnitude of stroke's burden across the continent. "There is a profound mismatch in this area," said Norrving.

Stroke remains the second leading cause of death and number one cause of long-term disability among Europeans, said Jon Barrick, co-chair of the European Stroke Action Plan and president of the Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE), a patient advocacy group collaborating with ESO.

"In terms of the world's great killers, stroke research is underfunded," Barrick added. "If stroke continues to be under-resourced in the way it is, it is quite credible stroke will go from the number two killer to number one."

"The Burden of Stroke in Europe" report, published by SAFE in 2017, provided a snapshot of stroke services and predictions for the future. There are, for example, €45 billion direct and indirect healthcare costs each year associated with stroke. "If everything continues as is, there will be a 35% increase in stroke by 2030. Something needs to be done," Barrick said.

Putting a more positive spin on the situation, Norrving said short-term investments to boost stroke resources and access to expertise represents "a great return on investment" over the long term compared to other conditions.

"One of the best stocks you can buy today is to invest in stroke care."

The new Stroke Action Plan announced at ESOC 2018 follows two previous attempts to improve stroke care across Europe. Advances in science, technology, and therapy for stroke care could improve the chances of success compared to the two earlier "Helsingborg Declarations" in 1995 and 2006.