Stroke

NHS Stroke

A stroke is when blood stops flowing to a part of your brain. It can affect things like speech and movement, and take a long time to recover.

A stroke needs urgent medical help in hospital because it can be life-threatening.

Signs and symptoms of a stroke

The main symptoms of stroke can be remembered with the word FAST. FAST stands for:

• Face – the face might drop on one side, the person may not be able to smile or their mouth may have dropped, and their eyelid may droop
• Arms – the person may not be able to lift both arms and keep them there because of arm weakness or numbness in one arm
• Speech – they might slur their speech or it might be garbled, or the person may not be able to talk at all despite appearing to be awake
• Time – it’s time to phone 999 immediately if you see any of these signs or symptoms

Please see our poster and link below:

• NHS Stroke poster
• Website: www.nhs.uk/conditions/stroke