Adam Dance

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) for securing this debate and sharing her stories. I start by sending my best wishes to my constituent John Falconer, who recently suffered a mini stroke. John has been campaigning tirelessly to reopen the hyperacute stroke unit at Yeovil district hospital—he was campaigning before he had the stroke. In 2024, Somerset ICB decided to close the unit as it could not sustain a full service. Instead, patients are now treated at Musgrove Park hospital or Dorchester county hospital. While I understand the reasoning, I remain deeply concerned about the impact that has, particularly the long travel times. When someone has a stroke, every minute matters. The target for patients with a clot stroke is to receive treatment within 180 minutes of 999 being called, but data collected by John and the Quicksilver Community Group shows that that would be met for only 13% of Yeovil patients taken to Taunton and 30% taken to Dorchester, compared with 74% when treated at Yeovil. Although staff at Taunton and Dorchester can provide treatment for people from Yeovil, there is real concern that some patients may not get there in time, with consequences, as we have heard today. My constituents want to know why greater resources cannot be invested to maintain a full, sustainable service in Yeovil. I am calling on the Somerset ICB to run a trial—as I have previously asked—comparing outcomes for patients in the Yeovil HASU and those taken outside the constituency.