Patients rushed to hospital with heart attacks and strokes have a growing chance of survival in Scotland.
Patients rushed to hospital with heart attacks and strokes have a growing chance of survival in Scotland.
The proportion of heart attack victims alive 30 days after the emergency has reached almost 86%.
The survival rate for strokes at 30 days has also improved to more than 80%.
Doctors said patients should be reassured by the findings, which were published by the NHS in Scotland yesterday.
Evidence that deaths following planned operations have dropped was also among the data.
However, there were some anomalies. Stroke survival rates in NHS Dumfries and Galloway plummeted last year.
In the area in the year 2004-05 nearly 80% of stroke patients treated were alive 30 days later. This figure dropped to 66.8% during the same period last year.
Dr Harpreet Kohli, medical adviser at internal watchdog NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, which published the data, said: "The key thing about the indicators is they are just a summary. To understand them boards need to put them into context and they are in the best position to do that."
Back in 1998 the percentage of patients who were alive 30 days after being admitted to hospital with a heart attack was 80.4%. Since then the rate has gradually improved and in the 12 months to July 2006 reached 85.9%.
Dr Brian Williams, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, said this trend had been noted despite the growing elderly population.
He said advances in the treatment patients received from paramedics as well as investment in staff and equipment in hospitals had helped save lives.
He said: "There's better pre-hospital care, there's better in-hospital care and more investment in specialists and the training of hospital staff. There is also better preventative care after a myocardial infarction (heart attack) to reduce the chance of a second one."
Across Scotland stroke survival at 30 days has risen from 76.5% in the year to July 1998 to 80.5%. A spokeswoman for the Stroke Association said it was delighted to see the improvement and said it could be due to people being treated more swiftly and more people admitted to specialist units.
However, she added: "The figures highlight the number of people still dying of stroke and we believe this is mainly due to the need to reinforce the key public health message that strokes can be prevented and when they occur they are an emergency, as well as the key message to the NHS that they, too, must respond to a stroke as an emergency.
"While much has been achieved in the area of stroke, there is still more to be done and the scale of need makes the challenge both urgent and important."
Concern was also expressed about the number of patients discharged from hospital following a medical emergency, who then have to be readmitted.
The data released yesterday showed such readmissions are growing steadily, with more than one in 10 patients back on wards within a month.
Ross Finnie, health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said: "These figures suggest that, in some cases, patients are being discharged too early.
"I hope this is not an indicator that doctors have to cut corners to meet stringent NHS targets.
"While the new executive's focus on waiting times is laudable, it must take these new figures on board. Patient welfare, not political gain, must come first."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said: "It is really good news that survival rates for heart disease and stroke are improving. We are on target to meet the reduction in premature deaths from both CHD and stroke in the under-75s by 2010."
A statement from NHS Dumfries and Galloway said: "NHS Dumfries and Galloway is continuing to seek ways of developing and enhancing the quality of its stroke service.
"The 2006 figures released by ISD Scotland are provisional figures which will be reviewed further by the NHS Board. However, the figures as represented by ISD should not be seen as a direct inference on the quality of the service provided."
