Stroke: New NHS campaign urges people to call 999 as soon as symptoms show

NHS England has launched a new campaign emphasising the importance of dialling 999 as soon as stroke symptoms occur, after new data showed that on average people faced a wait of nearly an hour and a half before a call was made.

Each year in the UK around 100 000 people have a stroke, and there are 38 000 stroke-related deaths, making it the country’s fourth biggest cause of death.

The national Act FAST (face, arms, speech, time) campaign, first launched in 2009, urges people to call 999 immediately if anyone experiences one of the three common symptoms: struggling …