About Early Supported Discharge

 

Each year in England around 110,000 people will have a stroke (National Audit Office, 2005). Approximately 900,000 people who are alive today have had a stroke (National Audit Office, 2005).

Stroke is:

• the third most common cause of death (Wolfe, 1996)
• the largest cause of complex disability (Adamson et al., 2004)
  • increases the chance of disability
  • has a greater disability impact than other chronic disease
  • causes a greater range of disability

The financial cost of stroke (Scarborough, 2010):

• £3.1 billion per year in direct costs
• £2.2 billion in lost productivity and disability
• £2.9 billion in informal care costs
• 94% direct costs on inpatient care
• Stroke accounts for approximately 5% of NHS resources (Isard, 1992)