1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,880
Speaker 1: Well, a new report out by the Stroke Foundation shows

2
00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:08,440
Speaker 1: the number of Australians having strokes is the greatest it

3
00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:12,360
Speaker 1: has been in more than twenty years, and the projection

4
00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,959
Speaker 1: show this will get worse. People are having a stroke

5
00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,440
Speaker 1: every eleven minutes. Well, there's one reported every eleven minutes

6
00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,360
Speaker 1: forty five thousand, seven hundred and eighty five in twenty

7
00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 1: twenty three. That's a staggering number and of course that

8
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,599
Speaker 1: has an impact as well as on individuals, on the

9
00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,560
Speaker 1: health system overall. Let's explore this. Stroke Foundation CEO doctor

10
00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,160
Speaker 1: Lisa Murphy on the line at Lisa Good morning.

11
00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:41,400
Speaker 2: Morning, Matthew.

12
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,280
Speaker 1: There is you say it in your release, no time

13
00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,800
Speaker 1: to waste when finding stroke. But the fact that we

14
00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,400
Speaker 1: are at an all time high it seems, and you

15
00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:52,720
Speaker 1: reckon it's only going to get worse. Well, what needs

16
00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:54,680
Speaker 1: to happen. I mean there's an economic cost of the

17
00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,640
Speaker 1: country that obviously a personal cost to individuals.

18
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, and when we're talking about dollar figures, I think

19
00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,200
Speaker 2: it's so important, as you say, to really remember the

20
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,720
Speaker 2: people behind these figures. Stroke has a huge personal cost

21
00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,120
Speaker 2: to the individuals, their families and the communities as well.

22
00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,320
Speaker 2: But what we have seen in this report is at

23
00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,680
Speaker 2: the national level, stroke is costing Australia nine billion dollars

24
00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:24,039
Speaker 2: every year and that's broken down into healthcare costs but

25
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:28,400
Speaker 2: also lots of productivity costs associated with the NDIS and

26
00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,880
Speaker 2: also unpaid care of costs, So a significant amount of money.

27
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,720
Speaker 2: And if we don't act now to turn this tide

28
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,560
Speaker 2: around to reduce the number of strokes that are happening

29
00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:42,039
Speaker 2: in Australia, then that figure is only going to get

30
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:42,600
Speaker 2: worse of time.

31
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,880
Speaker 1: That's that's terrible. So now does it come down to

32
00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:48,840
Speaker 1: prevention and good healthy living.

33
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,440
Speaker 2: There's definitely something in prevention for sure, So eighty percent

34
00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:59,200
Speaker 2: of strokes are preventable. The biggest risk factor for a

35
00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,919
Speaker 2: stroke is a highlood pressure, but other things like ateal

36
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,240
Speaker 2: fibrillation which is an irregular heartbeat, diabetes, high cholesterol, They

37
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,959
Speaker 2: are all things that make you a high risk of

38
00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:12,920
Speaker 2: having a stroke. And to reduce your risk of those

39
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,880
Speaker 2: things like getting regular exercise, having a well balanced diet

40
00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 2: with less salt, lots of fruit and veggies, no unprocessed food,

41
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,600
Speaker 2: not smoking, and reducing the amount of alcohol. There are

42
00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:29,560
Speaker 2: all things you can do to reduce your risk of

43
00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,560
Speaker 2: having a high blood pressure having diabetes, high cholesterol.

44
00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,640
Speaker 1: Okay, a government's doing enough to promote that message and

45
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,920
Speaker 1: in fact then having to I mean, we know at

46
00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,760
Speaker 1: the moment and here in South Australia ramping is such

47
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:47,160
Speaker 1: an issue in our hospitals. Yet if we could perhaps

48
00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:51,280
Speaker 1: reduce the number of stroke cases, well the pressure would

49
00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,080
Speaker 1: eat substantially. I mean it would if people were healthier

50
00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,519
Speaker 1: in general I suppose, and didn't need to go to hospital.

51
00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,880
Speaker 1: But this is one way we could tackle that particular.

52
00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:05,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're so right. We always say, and this is

53
00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:06,600
Speaker 2: one of the messages that I talk about all the

54
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,280
Speaker 2: time is stroke is a medical emergency. Once somebody experiences

55
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 2: a stroke, one point nine million brain cells die every minute.

56
00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,520
Speaker 2: So as soon you get to hospital, the better your outcome.

57
00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,679
Speaker 2: And so the best way to get to hospital is

58
00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,160
Speaker 2: called triple zero and get an ambulance and they're there

59
00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,480
Speaker 2: to get you speedily to hospital. But ambler's ramping obviously

60
00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,120
Speaker 2: causes an issue with that. And so if we can

61
00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,600
Speaker 2: stop people having strokes in the first place, then that's

62
00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:34,960
Speaker 2: going to take a huge pressure off the health system.

63
00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,520
Speaker 2: The trouble is that prevention is is a long person's game,

64
00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:43,240
Speaker 2: and that often doesn't time with the political cycles, so

65
00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:45,800
Speaker 2: we have to invest in.

66
00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:49,600
Speaker 1: Prevention absolutely, so that that's the key message, isn't it

67
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:52,440
Speaker 1: to try and not end up as somebody who suffers

68
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:53,920
Speaker 1: a strike. That's so important.

69
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:56,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is. The best strike you have is the

70
00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,480
Speaker 2: one that you don't have. And one of the things

71
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:02,560
Speaker 2: that we so far Dinner report is high blood pressure

72
00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,760
Speaker 2: because it's the biggest respect of the stroke and so

73
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,920
Speaker 2: we've we've modeled some savings that if we can reduce

74
00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,320
Speaker 2: the amount of uncontrolled high blood pressure in Australia, that

75
00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:19,640
Speaker 2: will have a significant income effect on the cost of stroke,

76
00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:21,280
Speaker 2: but also on people's health.

77
00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:23,880
Speaker 1: Do you think people have no idea what their blood

78
00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,120
Speaker 1: pressure is? Is there there'd be a percentage you'd be

79
00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,080
Speaker 1: walking around potentially taking time bombs.

80
00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. We call high blood pressure the silent killer

81
00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,159
Speaker 2: because often the first time you know that you've got

82
00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,760
Speaker 2: it is if you have some catastrophic events such as

83
00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,120
Speaker 2: a stroke. So the best way to do it, and

84
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,039
Speaker 2: I encourage everybody to do this, is to go to

85
00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,719
Speaker 2: your pharmacy, go to your general practitioner and get your

86
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,240
Speaker 2: blood pressure check. You don't know you've got a high

87
00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:49,960
Speaker 2: blood pressure necessarily until.

88
00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,440
Speaker 1: You get it measured, okay, and then seek advice. If

89
00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,120
Speaker 1: you do get it, you're not at the GPS, you

90
00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,000
Speaker 1: haven't done somewhere else, then go see a doctor. If

91
00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:56,560
Speaker 1: it is high.

92
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:02,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, get that vie and if your doctor recommends medication,

93
00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:04,560
Speaker 2: then you need to stay on that medication.

94
00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:09,200
Speaker 1: I'm staggeredly. So the average cost per stroke per individual

95
00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,279
Speaker 1: is three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's right, heck

96
00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 1: of a lot of money.

97
00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,160
Speaker 2: It's a hell of a lot of money. And that's because

98
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,400
Speaker 2: it takes for account the cost of the healthcare, which

99
00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:26,520
Speaker 2: is substantial. So often stroke results in lifelong disability. So

100
00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,839
Speaker 2: there's the rehab, the pisio, the occupational therapy, speech therapy afterwards,

101
00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,799
Speaker 2: but then that person is not often able to return

102
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,120
Speaker 2: to work or return to the level of work that

103
00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:43,520
Speaker 2: they were contributing before. So that loss of productivity is

104
00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:47,440
Speaker 2: massive from an economic sense. But then also going back

105
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:52,280
Speaker 2: to the individual, you know, work is often what gives

106
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,159
Speaker 2: people meaning, so they lose their connection in society as

107
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:57,440
Speaker 2: well as their income. Yeah.

108
00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,240
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Do you have any South Australian figures at your

109
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,400
Speaker 1: fingertips here you can give us regarding this I do

110
00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:06,080
Speaker 1: so for.

111
00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,839
Speaker 2: South Australia, the lifetime costs associated with stroke in twenty

112
00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,840
Speaker 2: twenty three exceeds one point two billions, and that's three

113
00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,599
Speaker 2: hundred and forty one thousand per person. And then the

114
00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,679
Speaker 2: first year after stroke that's when it's most expensive. Over

115
00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:25,240
Speaker 2: one hundred and sorry, six hundred and ten million. Wow,

116
00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:30,080
Speaker 2: he's one hundred and seventy one pup person. So it's massive.

117
00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,320
Speaker 2: And to give you a picture of how many strokes

118
00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:38,239
Speaker 2: are occurring in Australia, in South Australia, sorry, it's nearly

119
00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:43,120
Speaker 2: four four thousand strokes every year and then there's around

120
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,000
Speaker 2: thirty five thousand survivors living into the community in South Australia,

121
00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:48,920
Speaker 2: so big, big numbers.

122
00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,200
Speaker 1: They are indeed, appreciate your time this morning.

123
00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,719
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much, Matthew.

124
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,599
Speaker 1: Doctor Lisa Murphy, CEO Stroke Foundation. The report is out

125
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:03,279
Speaker 1: showing that the strokes are peaking. The number of people

126
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 1: having strokes is as great as it has been in

127
00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,280
Speaker 1: the last twenty years, and projection show numbers are only

128
00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,000
Speaker 1: going to get worse unless immediate action isn't taken. Preventative

129
00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,400
Speaker 1: measures are the best obviously to try and eliminate this

130
00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,200
Speaker 1: from your life. It is something you can control through

131
00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:27,480
Speaker 1: as Lisa said, your food habits, your exercise habits, checking

132
00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,320
Speaker 1: your blood pressure, all of that. Living a healthier life

133
00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,080
Speaker 1: and avoiding stroke. That would be the worst. That's a

134
00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,760
Speaker 1: sentence and a half a stroke, and I don't think

135
00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,840
Speaker 1: any of us would wish that on anyone else. Just

136
00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:43,280
Speaker 1: absolutely horrible. But my guest doctor Lisa Murphy there, the

137
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:44,720
Speaker 1: CEO of the Stroke Foundation,