Stroke victim wants to talk about speech help

BIRMINGHAM WOMAN JOINS CALLS FOR BETTER THERAPY IN HOSPITALS

- JAMES CARTLEDGE

A BIRMINGHAM woman who was left unable to say her name for three years is backing calls for better assessments for stroke patients.

Kelly Williams, 55, suffered two strokes in 2017 and was left with aphasia, a condition which affects the ability to speak, understand, read or write.

Ms Williams is calling for more timely speech assessments for stroke patients after a poll found just under a quarter, 24.8%, of stroke patients received a speech and language therapy (SLT) assessment within 24 hours of arrival at hospital, and less than half received the check within 72 hours.

Ms Williams waited days for assessment and did not have any speech therapy in hospital at all.

"I knew nothing about what was happening to me and my family were confused because they didn’t know how to communicate with me," she said.