Plans to improve stroke rehabilitation services in the community have been unveiled by Havering Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

GPs are asking people for their views on the plans, which aim to change the way patients recover.

Dr Alex Tran, clinical director for stroke at Havering CCG, said: “Advances in stroke care have given people faster access to specialist doctors and clot-busting drugs, which saves hundreds of lives each year and reduces the after-effects of a stroke for many patients.

“This means more people than ever before have a chance to make a good recovery and go on to lead a full life, so it’s vital that our rehabilitation services are set up in the best way to help people do this.

“We don’t think we’ve got it quite right at the moment: we’d like care to be focused less on where a person lives and more on what they need to help them recover.

“We’ve come up with a proposal we think will do this, so now we’d like people in Havering to let us know their views.”

A range of measures aimed at supporting rehabilitation from home includes a specialist multidisciplinary team offering speech and language therapy as well as psychological support.

The demand for rehabilitation is expected to increase by 35per cent in the next 20 years as the population grows older.

Currently up to 40pc of stroke patients are eligible for early supported discharge but far fewer are receiving it.

Havering CCG has estimated that about 25pc of those eligible are not accessing the services.

If proposals are brought in King George Hospital, Barley Lane, Goodmayes, would be the sole provider of inpatient stoke rehabilitation for Havering, Barking and Dagenham, and Redbridge – with Grays Court in Barking and Dagenham no longer offering the service.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks closing at 5pm on Friday, April 1.

For more information visit haveringccg.nhs.uk/stroke