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A new campaign by the NHS in England is encouraging people who experience the first sign of a stroke not to delay calling 999, after analysis of calls made in the last year showed the average time to do so was nearly an hour and a half.

England’s most senior doctor says stroke symptoms might not appear obvious or dramatic, but they are always a reason to act quickly.

About 100,000 people have a stroke each year in the UK and more than a third die from related issues, making it the fourth biggest cause of death in the UK.

The most common symptoms are struggling to smile or raise an arm, and slurring words when speaking.

NHS England says recognising any one of these signs in yourself or others and dialling 999 urgently is crucial to getting prompt, specialist treatment.

Yet the average time taken to make that emergency call was 88 minutes in 2023-24, NHS data reveals.

The analysis, from a team at King’s College London, looked at data for more than 41,000 stroke patients who were taken by ambulance to hospital.

NHS England also said a recent poll they carried out found a mistaken belief that two or three stroke symptoms were necessary before calling 999.

‘v-health’ pairs virtual task-based games with Valkyrie’s patented FES wearables with the goal of delivering accessible and measurable upper limb training for stroke survivors to help them regain function and independence.

The combination of immersive XR and neuromuscular stimulation is intended to encourage repetitive movement, assist motor relearning, and support patient engagement. A British technology company has received £500,000 in funding to further develop a neurorehabilitation platform that combines electrical stimulation with virtual reality.

Valkyrie Industries was awarded a grant through the Biomedical Catalyst 2024 competition by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The funding will support the continued development of v-health, Valkyrie’s platform designed for neuromuscular rehabilitation using functional electrical stimulation (FES) and extended reality (XR).

The project is backed by King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

The study will enrol 70 stroke survivors across the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the 6 Hobbs Rehabilitation sites in the South West and East. Focusing on individuals across a wide range of stroke recovery with wrist weakness, the research will assess the impact of the v-health platform during motor learning tasks.

Participants with wrist weakness across varying stages of stroke recovery will take part in motor learning exercises using the v-health system. The research aims to evaluate both the effectiveness and practical application of the platform in healthcare settings.

More than 70% of people experiencing stroke suffer upper-limb dysfunction, which can significantly limit independence in daily life. The growing strain on national healthcare resources, coupled with the rising demand for personalised, home-based rehabilitation, along with increased familiarity with digital technologies, has set the stage for developing an advanced therapeutics system consisting of a wearable solution aimed at complementing current stroke rehabilitation to enhance recovery outcomes.

Very long-term friend and supporter of ARNI, Professor Cherry Kilbride , and her colleagues, have developed an advanced prototype integrating electromyography smart sensors, functional electrical stimulation, and virtual reality technologies in a closed-loop system that is capable of supporting personalised recovery journeys.

The outcome; Nura, is a more engaging and accessible rehabilitation experience, designed and evaluated through the participation of stroke survivors.  It features a comfortable sleeve with embedded fabric electrodes and a detachable “puck” that delivers FES to the arm muscles to aid in rehabilitation. The device is controlled by a companion tablet app that provides gamified exercises to motivate users and features simple, one-touch controls for FES intensity adjustment.

Key Features: 

Wearable Sleeve: A comfortable sleeve with fabric electrodes that are integrated directly into the fabric, avoiding skin irritation.

“Puck” Controller: A detachable electronic component that houses the technology, including the microcontroller, which delivers the FES to the arm.

Gamified Rehabilitation: The device works with a tablet or Virtual Reality (VR) application, offering gamified exercises to enhance user engagement and motivation during rehabilitation.

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES): Nura uses FES to stimulate arm muscles for wrist extension, ulnar, and radial deviation, helping to prevent muscle wastage.

User-Friendly Controls: The system allows for one-touch adjustment of FES intensity through the companion app, making it intuitive to use.

Biomedical Integration: The technology incorporates electromyography (EMG) sensors, which measure electrical activity in the muscles, and is designed to be integrated with existing rehabilitation and healthcare systems.

Targeted Audience: The Nura FES device is developed with stroke survivors in mind, especially those with cognitive impairments, providing a user-friendly and engaging way to regain strength and function.

According to a recent analysis from the @OfficeForNationalStatistics, the average stroke survivor loses £18,785 in earnings over a five year period, from the moment of their diagnosis. This is more than:

▪️Cancer
▪️Heart failure
▪️Heart attack
▪️Chronic kidney disease
▪️Diabetes
▪️Respiratory conditions
▪️Musculoskeletal conditions

From these conditions, stroke survivors were also least able to stay in permanent employment, four years after their diagnosis. This is clear evidence that more needs to be done to provide financial security for stroke survivors and their families, and yet the current Government insists on making it more difficult for people living with disabilities and long-term health conditions to access benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

We already know how difficult stroke survivors find the process of applying for PIP, and how many people are unsuccessful. If the Government continues with its current plan to introduce stricter measures and barriers to PIP and financial support, more and more stroke survivors are going to be left with less and less.

The largest study of a spatial inattention therapy to take place anywhere in the world is underway at the University of East Anglia and taking place at eight major stroke centres across England.

There are 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, with an estimated 390,000 of those suffering from spatial inattention. The condition can be highly persistent, with 40% of stroke survivors continuing to experience symptoms a year post-stroke.

Currently there is no effective treatment for spatial inattention. This new trial is helping to fill the gap in the urgent search for successful treatments.

A stroke is caused by blood supply being cut off to part of the brain, killing brain cells. This can affect the brain’s ability to interpret information. In some cases, this can make the stroke survivor lose attention to things on one side of their body. This means that even if they have good eyesight, their brain does not process the information it’s getting from the impaired side, resulting in a disabling cognitive condition called ‘spatial inattention’ or ‘spatial neglect’.   

SIGHT (Spatial Inattention Grasping Therapy) requires those suffering from spatial neglect to grasp and balance rods with their less affected hand. Because of the condition, the rods tilt during the first attempts, but feeling and seeing the rod tilt improves performancewhich in turn increases attention to the impaired side

The study will also explore why some people benefit more from therapy than others. To help identify who might benefit mostthe trial will measure grasping, vision, cognition, stroke severity and brain structure and function.

There is currently no effective treatment for spatial inattention and people affected by it often have poor recovery and long-term disability. However this new therapy, SIGHT, has already shown some early promise in improving the condition. This low-cost, portable therapy, if found to be effective at improving inattentioncould benefit millions of people around the world.

 

 

Calling stroke survivors! Researchers are recruiting now for a large-scale clinical trial with the acronym TRICEPS, run in 19 centres around the country: Sunderland,  Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Doncaster, Leicester, Birmingham, Norwich, London, South Petherton, Sherbourne, Bournemouth, Bodmin & Cardiff. 

The trial is looking at how a specialised device can help strengthen hand and arm function, using a small earpiece to stimulate the vagus nerve. Called transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (TVNS), it forms part of rehabilitation therapy, and involves sending mild electrical pulses to the brain. Patients will be asked to wear it while they move their weak arm. The stimulation is automatically activated as the arm is moved during therapy and the connected earpiece gently tickles the ear. This can be done at home and does not involve invasive surgery.

You may be eligible if;

✅- You STILL HAVE arm weakness as a result of a stroke that happened between 6 months and 10 years ago

✅- You DO HAVE SOME movement of your arm, wrist, and fingers

✅- The TYPE OF STROKE that you had was ISCHAEMIC

✅- You ARE AGED 18 years and over

✅- You ARE WILLING to wear a TVNS device (earpiece, wrist sensor  and stimulator), whilst you do some home based self-delivered  therapy for 1-hour, 5 times a week.  This will be over a 12-week  period.

✅- You ARE WILLING to attend at least 3 appointments during the  6 months of taking part in the trial.

If selected, you will wear the TVNS device when completing the self-delivered rehabilitation therapy for 1 hour per day, 5 days per week for 12 weeks. The rehabilitation therapy plan will be tailored to you. It will be completed at home, and includes repetitive tasks such as turning cards, moving objects, opening, and closing bottles. Some patients will also be asked to wear the TVNS device whilst undertaking their daily activities, such as cooking. 

Involving yourself in this study may be of benefit to some survivors who may not be receiving any other therapy for their arm weakness. https://youtu.be/EA_XrKvM8KQ

A Canadian research group has found evidence not only that doing more exercise is associated with greater gains in function and motor recovery but that cardiorespiratory exercise aids stroke recovery by promoting neuroplasticity.

Despite the benefits of cardio exercise early post-stroke, physiotherapists perceive that people who have had a stroke have rehabilitation goals related to improving physical function rather than addressing physiological impairments underlying function such as low cardiorespiratory fitness, which leads them to de-prioritize cardio exercise during limited therapy time.

Few clinical trials investigating the benefits of doing cardio exercise during stroke rehabilitation on functional recovery have been conducted to date but systematic reviews have reported that people with stroke who complete cardio exercise experience improved certain aspects of cognitive function, such as attention and processing speed, but not memory, problem-solving, executive function, or working memory.

Providing further evidence for a link between cardio exercise and improved outcomes, the group found that higher total time spent in cardio exercise correlated with greater improvement in total FIM (Functional Independence Measure), FIM motor and cognitive sub-scores, FAC, and CMSA arm, leg, and foot scores. These results indicate that a higher dose (ie, increased duration) of cardio exercise could lead to greater gains in functional independence.

Sarah Thompson, Augustine J. Devasahayam, Cynthia J. Danells, David Jagroop, Elizabeth L. Inness, Avril Mansfield,
Cardiorespiratory exercise during rehabilitation is associated with improved functional recovery early post-stroke: A cohort study,
Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Volume 68, Issue 8, 2025.

Read more at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877065725000715

A new “orange” ambulance category will be introduced in Wales this winter to improve emergency care for stroke patients currently grouped within broader amber calls. Under the new system, specialist nurses and paramedics will screen 999 calls to identify patients with stroke or STEMI heart attacks—where blood flow to the heart is completely blocked—who need a faster response and specialist care before arriving at hospital.

The aim is to better direct time-critical cases to specialist pre-hospital treatment. Stroke patients are currently within the amber category, which covers about 70 per cent of all 999 calls in Wales. The new orange category will not have a specific response time target, but average and longest response times will be recorded, along with the type and quality of care provided before hospital arrival.

Alongside orange, two additional categories will replace the current amber group: yellow, for cases requiring further clinical assessment to determine the best response, and green, for issues such as blocked catheters that may need community care or planned transport. The changes follow updates earlier this month to how the most urgent 999 calls are categorised. A purple category was introduced for patients in cardiac or respiratory arrest, and a red emergency category for cases such as major trauma. These categories carry a target average response time of six to eight minutes. A “video triage” pilot scheme is also underway in five areas, allowing paramedics to consult hospital stroke specialists in real time before the patient arrives.

Balance and gait are essential components of functional movement, yet balance and mobility problems are among the most frequent and disabling effects of stroke, with 7 in 8 strokes affecting those over 44 years of age. Balance (both standing and walking) training is the only effective treatment for balance disorders, as recommended by both ARNI and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) UK.
The evidence shows that training balance and gait during stroke rehabilitation is crucial for improving a patient’s mobility, reducing the risk of falls, enhancing their quality of life, promoting brain plasticity, and preventing secondary complications.
By incorporating these activities into a rehabilitation programme, stroke survivors can improve their overall recovery, regain their independence reducing feelings of depression, while increasing participating in daily and social activities, and improving their quality of life.
Join in to current UCL Research to Improve Rehabilitation of Stroke Survivors and complete a home-based balance rehabilitation programme using augmented reality, with body motion tracking for real-time feedback.
Email study co-ordinator Brooke Nairn now: you will be required to attend the clinic for pre and post study assessments, at 33 Queen Square, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), WC1N 3BG. The 9-week intervention will then take place in the comfort of your own home with remote monitoring by a trained physiotherapist.

A new study finds that people who have this type of stroke may also have prolonged fatigue lasting up to one year.
Dr Modrau at the Aalborg University Hospital and his team’s study (published in Neurology®) shows that a TIA, also known as a mini-stroke (typically defined as a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain that causes symptoms that go away within a day), shows an association with lasting fatigue.
People with a transient ischemic attack can have symptoms such as face drooping, arm weakness or slurred speech and these resolve within a day. However, a significant number report continued challenges including reduced quality of life, thinking problems, depression, anxiety and fatigue.
The study, involving 354 people with an average age of 70 who had a mini-stroke, were followed for a year. Researchers looked at how many participants experienced fatigue as defined as a score of 12 or higher. Of the participants, 61% experienced fatigue two weeks after the mini-stroke and 54% experienced fatigue at each of the three other testing time periods at three, six and 12.
It was found that for some people, fatigue was a common symptom that lasted up to one year after the transient ischemic attack.
ARNI Rehab says: for future studies, people diagnosed with a transient ischemic attack should be followed in the weeks and months that follow to be assessed for lingering fatigue. This could help researchers better understand who might struggle with fatigue long-term and require further care.


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