Strokes: Rehabilitation

Judy Mallaber
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans her Department has to increase funding allocated to research into the long-term care and rehabilitation of people who have had a stroke; and if she will make a statement.

Ms Rosie Winterton
Implementation of the Department's research strategy “Best Research for Best Health” will result in an expansion of our research programmes and in significant new funding opportunities for health research. In particular, the Oxford and Newcastle Biomedical Research Centres, formed this year, propose to undertake research on stroke for which a five year centrally funded budget of some £5 million has been approved. Other biomedical research centres will undertake research on stroke as part of broader-based research themes.

In addition, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research has recently awarded five stroke-related programme grants with a total value of £7 million, and is investing £20 million over five years in the UK Stroke Research Network set up in 2005. The network is supporting clinical trials and other well designed studies conducted by public and private sector funders.