Stroke patients ‘not receiving CT scans quickly enough’
 A report by a stroke charity claims that less than a third of patients have a CT scan the same day despite requests from doctors for a scan to be carried out within 30 minutes. The majority of cases waited more than two days.
Titled A bleeding shame PDF, the Different Strokes report says, “Immediate scanning of suspected cases of stroke is associated with better outcomes, but presently achieved in only a small minority of cases. The benefits of rapid scanning are clear and will grow with new treatments for both ischaemic stroke and ICH.
“In the first instance, rapid progress could be made by scanning all patients reaching hospital within three hours on arrival. Scanning capacity is a limiting factor in the UK, with almost no smaller hospitals having access to scanners.”
The report includes a geographical survey of the UK showing how each region performs.
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