MPs have called for urgent improvements to NHS treatment for stroke sufferers, saying that more than 2,000 lives a year are lost or blighted due to inadequate care. The demand comes as a Commons committee issues what one MP calls a 'hard-hitting' report on failings in stroke treatment. The Public Accounts Committee hopes that its report, due out on Tuesday, will have as great an impact as its push several years ago for urgent efforts to deal with the hospital infection MRSA.

The report's main thrust, according to a source, will be to highlight the need for the far quicker and better targeted care already available in a countries including Australia, Sweden, the US and Canada. The lag in British standards was particularly serious, the PAC is expected to say, because it is costing millions of pounds to care for patients left with stroke-related disabilities. About 130,000 people in England and Wales suffer a stroke each year and there are nearly 70,000 stroke deaths annually.