Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme – Annual Report 2019

This annual report examines the findings of data collected during five years from April 2013 – March 2018. It aims to provide a detailed, accurate picture of the characteristics of people who have a stroke and the care that is provided to them in hospital and following discharge. As SSNAP data now covers five years, it is possible to look at changes over time, highlight those aspects of care which are improving, stagnating or deteriorating, and discuss what still needs to be done.

SSNAP measures both the processes of care (clinical audit) provided to stroke patients, as well as the structure of stroke services (organisational audit) against evidence based standards, including the 2016 National Clinical Guideline for Stroke.

The findings show that in general, patients are receiving acute interventions (including urgent scanning, thrombolysis, thrombectomy and swallow screening) faster, and that stroke patients are being given more therapy to help their recovery as increasing proportions of patients are benefiting from assessments. However there is still variation between some indicators on a national level, such as in the percentage of stroke patients being admitted to a stroke unit within 4 hours.

The report can be downloaded by clicking below.