Public fears about rising Covid-19 case rates and hospitalisations could lead an increase in the number of untreated strokes this winter, a charity has warned.
The Stroke Association said it was concerned that fear about spiralling Covid-19 rates and the spread of the omicron variant could lead to people delaying seeking medical treatment when they urgently need it.
During the first wave of the pandemic, the association’s Stroke recoveries at risk report found that there was a significant decrease in admissions to stroke wards, largely fuelled by people being worried about catching Covid-19 while in hospital or because of not wanting to be a ‘burden’ on an under-pressure NHS.
Nearly a third (32%) of people who survived a stroke between March and June 2020 said they had delayed seeking medical attention because of Covid-19.
The charity is concerned a similar situation may arise over the coming weeks, compounded by the added impact of reported ambulance delays and lack of access to primary care services.
The association has also pointed to data suggesting more people are now living with unmanaged hypertension (or high blood pressure) and other major stroke risk factors because of fewer regular in-person appointments where cardiovascular conditions (like high blood pressure) are spotted.
Stroke and Covid-19
Supporting stroke survivors returning to the workplace
A further issue is the impact of rising NHS staff absence affecting services. For example, on Saturday (1 January), the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust said it was “unable to maintain safe staffing levels”, which had resulted in care being compromised in areas including stroke and cardiac care.
Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association, said: “More omicron cases is likely to mean more preventable deaths and disability due to stroke, as people delay seeking emergency medical attention. We know that people get scared to go to hospital when cases rise but stroke is a life-threatening condition.”
Separately, latest annual figures on cervical screening have shown that the number of individuals being tested fell in 2020-2021 compared to the previous year.
The Cervical Screening Programme, England 2020-21 statistics from NHS Digital covered information on individuals aged 25-64 who were invited for regular screening.
In 2020-2021, 4.59 million individuals were invited for screening, a 1.0% decrease on 2019-20, when the figure was 4.63 million.
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The number of tests carried out also fell. A total of 3.03 million individuals aged 25 to 64 were tested, a decrease of 5.3% compared to the previous year, when 3.20 million were tested.
NHS Digital said that, while the results needed to be “interpreted with care”, disruption to services and access to services by the pandemic was likely to have had an impact on activity during the period.
