National Projects 2009-10

During 2009-10 the Stroke Improvement Programme worked with 46 project sites across the country on five national projects across the stroke pathway.  To find out about the Stroke Improvement Programme's national projects for 2010-11, please click here.

The learning from the TIA, Acute Stroke Care, Rehabilitation and Transfer of Care projects is available:
• Going up a gear: practical steps to improve stroke care publication, June 10
• Project case studies
• Presentations and posters from the Accelerating Progress in Stroke Care event, 22 June 10

Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA)
The national projects tested the implementation of quality markers 5 and 6 of the National Stroke Strategy to contribute to national learning.  Much of the work this year concentrated on the ‘front end’ of the TIA pathway, ensuring prompt access to effective diagnosis and treatment.

Acute Stroke Care
Quality markers 7, 8 and 9 in the National Stroke Strategy define the key components of effective acute stroke care.  The national projects, working in a variety of settings across the country, explored how to improve the care they provide for their patients.

Rehabilitation
Quality marker 10 of the National Stroke Strategy requires services to ensure that people who have had strokes have access to high-quality rehabilitation and, with their carer, receive support from stroke skilled services as soon as possible after they have a stroke, available in hospital, immediately after transfer from hospital and for as long as they need it.  The national project sites analysed their rehabilitation services and made improvements based on their findings, establishing new community and early supported discharge services, improving the skills of the multidisciplinary teams, and developing plans to provide weekend therapy.

Transfer of Care
The National Stroke Strategy set a clear standard in quality marker 12 that individuals should have a discharge plan, covering all their needs, both health and social care.  The national projects demonstrated that improvements to transfer of care processes enable more patients to access the stroke ward more rapidly and for longer by creating capacity and improving flow through the ward, as well as reducing waiting times for community rehabilitation and improving patient and carer satisfaction.

Stroke Prevention in Primary Care: Managing Atrial Fibrillation
The Stroke Improvement and Heart Improvement Programme worked with 18 sites in the first phase of the ‘Atrial Fibrillation in Primary Care’ project which was completed in 2009. Building on this work, the Stroke Improvement Programme launched the second phase in October 2009, working with nine sites to provide demonstrable outcomes for the improvement of the identification, diagnosis and optimal therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation. 

Atrial Fibrillation now forms a programme of work within NHS Improvement and a new team has been established to roll this out across England.