Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 3:03 pm on 13 December 2017.
Thank you for the question. I recognise atrial fibrillation is a significant risk in people who have strokes. The latest sentinel stroke national audit programme clinical audit showed that 18 per cent of Welsh stroke patients had atrial fibrillation prior to their stroke. We already have work going on in this area. In the previous statement I made in this place on stroke and stroke improvement, I noted the University Hospital of Wales-led Stop a Stroke project. That was specifically about consultants working with the third sector, the British Heart Foundation, NWIS and Public Health Wales to look at how you have appropriate treatment for people with atrial fibrillation to reduce their risk of stroke, but also about the proactive offer in looking to find out who has untreated and undiagnosed atrial fibrillation. To date, 40 per cent of atrial fibrillation patients were not on the appropriate treatment and could be anti-coagulated to reduce their risk of stroke.
So, there is work that's already ongoing. That work now, following the pilot in the University of Wales Hospital, is being rolled out across the country. This is one of the risk factors we could and should control, but of course there are many others. The big public health challenges of smoking, overuse of alcohol, our diet and not exercising enough all have significant impacts on our risk of a range of conditions, including, of course, stroke. If we can do more as a country to change our behaviour, we'll have fewer people suffering ill health in the first place in stroke and a range of other areas.