01.03.11
Stroke campaign relaunched as awareness slips
A high-profile campaign on stroke awareness has been relaunched by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
The award-winning ‘Act F.A.S.T’ campaign, first launched in February 2009, is thought to have boosted public awareness of the importance of getting people who are having a stroke to hospital as quickly as possible through its graphic description of stroke “spreading like fire” through the brain.
Lansley said: “In the campaign’s first four months alone stroke related calls to the ambulance service increased by more than 55%.
“As part of our wider strategy to improve outcomes for stroke, re-running this campaign will save lives.”
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) awarded it ‘Gold’ for effectiveness in November 2010.
The adverts will screen again for three weeks from today as part of a £740,000 campaign.
F.A.S.T. – which stands for Face, Arm, Speech, Time to call 999 – has stuck in people’s minds, according to Joe Korner, communications director at The Stroke Association, who said: “We know these adverts have saved lives by making people aware of the symptoms of stroke and the importance of getting to hospital quickly.
“Many people have contacted us to say how they’ve used F.A.S.T. and how it’s made a difference to the recovery of their loved ones. We’re pleased with the impact and progress the campaign has made and urge everyone to remember the F.A.S.T. message.”
According to National Audit Office figures for 2008/09, direct stroke care costs the NHS at least £3 billion a year, within a wider economic cost of about £8 billion, including lost income and productivity as a result of disability.
The DH said there has been a decrease in awareness in the seven months the campaign has been off-air, from 79% in March 2010 to 62% now, down from a peak of 82% when the ads first aired in 2009. Awareness of the F.A.S.T. campaign is particularly low among Afro-Caribbean and South Asian people, among whom there is a higher prevalence of stroke.
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