Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

This subject is dear to my heart as my personal assistant had a stroke this weekend and he spent the weekend fighting for his life in one of the major Dublin hospitals. I draw the Minister's attention to the awareness created by the Irish Heart Foundation's FAST campaign, which refers to face, arms, speech and time. It is an appropriate stroke treatment strategy and, unfortunately, economic difficulties are threatening the continuation of the scheme.

Stroke awareness has improved drastically since the FAST campaign was launched. A study has indicated that less than 50% of Irish adults would ring 999 if they thought they were having a stroke, which is a frightening statistic given the average stroke destroys 2 million brain cells every minute. Getting emergency treatment for a stroke can mean the difference between walking from hospital - sometimes within hours - death or spending the rest of one's life being dependent on others.

Thanks to the success of the FAST campaign, there has been a 124% increase in awareness of stroke warning signs. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has completed studies showing that following the launch of the FAST campaign, there was an 87.5% increase in hospital admissions among patients with facial droop, as well as a 68% increase in hospital admissions for those with weakness on one side and a 66% increase in hospital case admissions for slurred speech. This has resulted in hundreds of people being saved from death and disability due to a three-fold increase in the numbers getting to hospital in time to receive clot-busting thrombolysis treatment.

The Irish Heart Foundation spent over €500,000 on the FAST campaign, a significant commitment for a charity that is 90% funded by public donation. Astoundingly, approximately €115,000 of this went in VAT payments to the State; in other words, the foundation was charged by the State to save lives and public money. That is an embarrassing anomaly and I ask the Minister to consider providing a VAT exemption for voluntary health-related charities.

Further improvements are being made in the area of stroke care by the HSE's national stroke programme. The HSE will soon achieve thrombolysis treatment 24 hours a day, seven days a week in all hospitals treating stroke. This is against a position just a couple of years ago when a handful of hospitals provided an adequate service. I congratulate the Minister for improving a service by moving it from Loughlinstown to St. Vincent's Hospital. I call on him not only to investigate the possibility of providing a VAT exemption to the charity but also to part-fund the continuation of the FAST campaign in recognition of the advancements in stroke awareness and quality of life standards for those who suffer a stroke, who thanks to the work of the Irish Heart Foundation and FAST campaign are treated on time.

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