Uma Kumaran

I thank the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) for securing such an important debate ahead of World Stroke Day. I send her mum our best wishes; I know how hard it is to speak about these personal issues in the House. A stroke happens every five minutes. That means that each year 100,000 people in Britain will have a stroke. One in seven of those stroke patients die in hospital, and six in 10 will leave hospital with a disability. Until last year, those were all simply statistics to me. I knew that stroke was a major cause of disability and that people suffered strokes, but to me those people were always much older. Since then, my understanding has changed drastically. Last year, on my first day in Parliament, my husband, Jacob, suffered a stroke. While other colleagues were queuing to be sworn in, I raced across London to find him in an intensive care ward. Learning what had happened was terrifying. It was totally unexpected. Jacob is young and healthy, and does not drink or smoke, but stroke does not discriminate. I learned quickly that what happened to him is not as rare as we thought: one in four strokes happen to people of working age. Stroke has the ability to turn someone’s life upside down. Simple, everyday tasks become difficult, and the jobs people once did may become alien to them. Stroke does not discriminate in who it strikes or where it strikes, but the care stroke patients receive across the country does. There are severe inequalities, and we must end the postcode lottery in access to treatment and rehabilitation. When it comes to acute treatment, we absolutely know what works. Thrombolysis and thrombectomy save lives. The Prime Minister has spoken about the power of artificial intelligence to help doctors find blood clots in seconds. We also know that, too often, where someone lives impacts the quality of care and their quality of life after a stroke.