Speeches

Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) collects on the use of mechanical clot retrieval; if he will publish data from SSNAP on mechanical clot retrieval for the latest period in which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat

NHS England’s National Clinical Director (NCD) for stroke is leading work to develop a full proposal which will consider the evidence and logistical issues involved in delivering mechanical thrombectomy to stroke patients across the country. This includes working with the relevant specialist societies, Royal Colleges and Health Education England to consider the workforce implications. Once the proposal has been developed, NHS England will decide whether the procedure should be made widely available.

The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) is now collecting data on patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy and the latest data shows that 124 patients were treated between October 2015 and March 2016. It should be noted, however, that this may not reflect all patients treated as some may not have had their data entered into SSNAP.

The SSNAP team is addressing this issue with the relevant clinicians. SSNAP data is freely available at:

https://www.strokeaudit.org/