Hello, I had a brief and fairly mild stroke just over a week ago while on holiday in Norway. The main thing affected at the time was my speeech which returned to normal the following day. I spent 2 days in hospital there, having every test under the sun. The health service in Norway was amazing. Then I came home to Sheffield with a letter for my GP, CDs of my scans and strict instructions from the Norwegian doctors to get seen asap in the UK as I would need further investigations to find out why I had the stroke. My GP saw me immediately and thought the same think, but seemed to come up against a wall when he tried to refer me to the outpatient stroke service. He persevered and
a physiotherapist from the community stroke team is coming to “assess” me on Friday. From what she said on the phone this seems to be about any physical (she mentioned seeing whether I could get on and off the toilet ) and neurological deficits that I might have.
I do appreciate that I’m very lucky that my stroke was mild and that NHS resources are stretched, but am wondering if this is it? No specialist medical follow up or investigation, unless I have another stroke!
That’s how it works in UK, unfortunately, unless you have private care. The NHS is stretched so thin. I saw my GP yesterday for a different issue and she has been the first to treat me as human, She explained all the restrains and how difficult it is to work within them. She also stated that sometimes they are still working at 2am in the morning to try and catch up. Now I know why my care was so 
by the hospital after my stroke. Good luck for your future 
@Speaking hi & welcome to the community. Sorry to hear of your stroke byt good to hear that you are doing ok.
In relation to follow up with a stroke team I think you should push hard for this. You jeed to badger your GP. I know my GP referred me for something once & the hospital rejected it, but she pushed back & they tyen saw me.
Ask the physio when they come out to. They might have some advice. Also, could your GP not refer you to the relevant specialists to have those tests.
I hope you get the tests you need. You need to push - if you don’t they will just leave it.
Best wishes
Ann
Hello @speaking I’m so sorry to hear of your stroke but I’m delighted your speech returned mine hasn’t and I had my aneurysm a blood vessel that balloons and subsequently bursts,haemorrhageic stroke.i was fitted with a tracheostomy to aid my breathing and that’s why i can’t speak.i spent four years at the Royal hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN) for rehab concentrating mostly on physio with a little SALT.i think you need to insist that you get the rehab you need OT,PT etc.
Hi Speaking–I live in the States, so maybe they do things differently, but when I had my stroke, when I was released after 3 weeks in the hospital I was told to immediately see my general practioner, a cardiologist and a neurologist— which I did, within the week. The cardiologist did an echocardiogram and had me wear a heart monitor for a while, and it picked up that I had afib (atrial fibrillation), which is one of the major causes of stroke. (I had had no symptoms that I could feel, so I never would have known had I not seen a cardiologist. I was put on a medication for that as well as others for cholestrol. That is my experience. Hope you’re doing well now. 
Jeanne
Hello and very sorry for what you have been and continue to go through. I know that I have been lucky so far both that my stroke was mild and that it happened in Norway! I wonder if I would even have been admitted to hospital in the UK! 
Hi Speaking,
Firstly welcome and glad you seem to be doing well or as well as you can. From my own experience it seems you may be like many other a result of the great post code lottery in the NHS.
I was treated in one authority hospital, community rehab in another and found out they cannot communicate with each other in the 21st century 
. This made things a little difficult at times, I learned to stick to my guns over some issues this caused, generally differences in outlook and information given.
Then recently at work was treated out of area in a smaller health authority and the difference is night and day. I had proper treatment , assessment and planning which came as a shock because I didn’t know or expect to have better treatment.
My dad also suffered a stroke 20+ years ago on Spain I assume Norway to be similar possibly and that would be light years ahead, much as I love and value our NHS it is in need of so much today.
Good luck with your recovery and wishing you well in it,
I had a bad stroke 6 months ago and had a most of a clot removed but told I’m not getting a follow up scan ,to prove the rest has dispersed, as they say I look ok so I just get on with life hoping it’s fine but there’s never a promise of a not second happening. We live in hope ,which as stroke survivors we all do . Safe journeys
Russ
That is typical NHS @Russ1 , their tea is getting cold, they don’t have time to do medical stuff. As long as you’re breathing you can have as many strokes you want or as many complications from one stroke as you want, just don’t bother them.
I was called the other day by the consultant to tell me the results of a blood test so I took the opportunity to ask will I have another MRI until Dec? when I’m due to go see him, basically to have something to compare to, but no, I’m just going to go have a blood pressure taken and an SPO while in the waiting area then check in with him, for sure he’s gonna have something else to complain about his own life, then he’s going to charge 1000£ to the NHS because he has seen me in person and he is also a mighty consultant. And then there’s no wonder why NHS is slipping away.
My brain is in ranting mode these days, sorry.
Gav
Gav - sharing your personal experiences is not necessarily a rant (unless you think it is). To me, you are sharing your experiences that reflect the reality of, in this case being a stroke survivor under the care, or lack of, under the NHS.
We need to hear how it is so we can be better prepared 
Thank you for sharing/ranting.
