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"Poor Care Costs Lives of Stroke Patients" |
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"Up to 6,000 people die unnecessarily every year in Britain because of lack of specialist stroke care," The Times reported on 24 July 02, following the publication of an audit by the Royal College of Physicians. "Only 36 per cent of stroke patients spent any time at all in a stroke unit, despite evidence that -death -and disablement are reduced by more than a quarter as a result of specialist treatment. "..One in five patients was not receiving a brain scan and 10 percent who should have been prescribed aspirin or similar drugs were not." A letter to the Daily Telegraph (9 Aug 02) from a former auxiliary nurse reported: "Stroke victims are left without food or water while they wait three weeks for their "gag reflex" to be assessed by speech therapists."
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