Scarborough GP urges people to get checked regularly to prevent strokes
The NHS says it's the fourth biggest killer in the UK
A Scarborough GP is urging people to prevent themselves from having a stroke by getting checked more regularly.
The NHS says a stroke is the fourth biggest killer in the UK with over one hundred thousand people suffering a stroke each year, with one striking every five minutes.
Yet it says its new data for England shows over a third of people (39%) did not recognise a stroke as a medical emergency that requires immediate attention and just one in five people (20%) are confident that they could recognise typical signs of a stroke, even though every minute is vital.
Stroke survivors have now made it their mission to make sure everyone in England knows the signs of a stroke, as they come together alongside the people who saved them to release a series of new emotive images which form part of NHS England’s ‘Help Us, Help You’ Act F.A.S.T campaign
Dr. Peter Billingsley has been a GP in Scarborough for many years and he said: "Strokes are devastating. It's really obvious when someone's had a big stroke; their face drops, they can't move their arm and they completely lose vision when their speech goes. Usually what they should do is go and get an ambulance and go straight to the hospital.
"At least half of strokes we can probably prevent and the way we prevent them and these devastating consequences are really quite simple things to do and arrange. A lot of people do get these important things checked but they don't revisit it every year.
"This irregular heart rate that people have called atrial fibrillation so instead of your heart beating regularly, there's no pattern to it. If you try and check your pulse it feels wrong, but as you get older it might happen in the future so if you have had it checked you do need it checking at least once a year.
"People who have strokes when they have atrial fibrillation often have bigger strokes. What's so sad is that you can prevent it if you can identify the atrial fibrillation and you go on blood thinners. The blood thinners work a treat and we prescribe them all the time.
"Check yourself out for atrial fibrillation and check yourself out for hypertension that will reduce a lot of your stroke risk and you won't have these devastating things that hapepn to people. Previously fit and well people have a stroke and then you end up in a wheelchair. We don't want that.
"If all of a sudden you've woken up and you can't feel the side of your face or you start having abnormal speech, you're drooling and you've lost the power in your eyelid and it's just happened, it's a stroke. All of a sudden, you're stuck in your chair, you can't move your leg and you can't lift your hand because you just can't feel it, you're having a stroke. Don't go back to sleep."
Find out more on the NHS website.