Stroke/TIA

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.

Check for signs of a stroke

The main symptoms of a stroke can happen suddenly. They may include:

• face weakness – one side of your face may droop (fall) and it might be hard to smile
• arm weakness – you may not be able to fully lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness in 1 arm
• speech problems – you may slur your words or sound confused

The easiest way to remember these symptoms is the word FAST. This stands for: face, arms, speech and time to call 999.