Sometimes, systems fail stroke patients

An exasperating story - to many times, in any country, stroke patients don't get the attention needed. This story came from England, where too many stroke patients are too often waiting too long.

It's critical, critical that stroke patients get to a hospital soon. In the United States, ideally, it should be a hospital designated as a stroke center. But as BBC reported,  post-hospital stroke care "needs to improve":

Patients often faced delays in being seen, while some areas were failing to provide services altogether, the official health regulator said.

Immediate improvement was needed, it added.

The findings comes after a major focus on hospital stroke services in recent years. This has led to improvements in testing and treatment in the immediate aftermath of a stroke.

This in turn has increased the numbers surviving and, as a result, there are now 50,000 people a year who are left with disabilities following a stroke.