Council supports World Stroke Day 2020

To mark the annual stroke awareness raising day, Council has lit up council buildings in purple, met with the charity and posted messages of support on their

social media channels.

World Stroke Day, held annually on 29 October, aims to highlight the serious nature and high incidence of stroke globally, raise awareness of the prevention and treatment of the condition, and ensure better care and support for survivors.  

To celebrate this World Stroke Day 2020, the Stroke Association has been keen to reach out to local council members to present their new manifesto document, ‘Progressing Stroke Reform in Northern Ireland’, which sets out the charity’s key asks of local government and highlights why urgent reform of stroke services is even more important now during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, Alderman Mark Fielding, met with Mark Dyer from the Stroke Association in Northern Ireland and received a copy of their new manifesto ‘Progressing Stroke Recovery in Northern Ireland’.

Barry Macaulay, Director of the Stroke Association in Northern Ireland, said: “I’d like to thank the Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council,

Alderman Mark Fielding, for meeting with us and accepting a copy of our new Stroke Association manifesto. We’re delighted to see so many councils embracing the spirit of World Stroke Day 2020 and lighting up council buildings in purple. We were very encouraged that at the beginning of 2020, the Northern Ireland Executive made a commitment to reconfigure hospital provision for stroke and make improvements in stroke care by the end of the year.

“They emphasised that doing so would deliver better patient outcomes, more stable services and more sustainable staffing in stroke care in Northern Ireland. However, we were very disappointed that the ’Rebuilding Health and Social Care Services Strategic Framework for Northern Ireland’, published in June 2020, stated that it was ‘unlikely that stroke reforms will progress by end of 2020’.

“While we appreciate the challenges posed by the pandemic for the health and social care sector, the Covid-19 crisis should be seen as an opportunity to

reform our health system. Change is long overdue and we must do better to improve outcomes for stroke survivors and their families, both now and in

the future. Staying as we are is not an option and a lack of progress puts lives and recoveries at risk.”

To find out more about the work of the Stroke Association and to download a copy of the Stroke Association’s manifesto, ‘Progressing Stroke Reform

in Northern Ireland’ visit the website at www.stroke.org.uk/campaignsni