Hospitals fail to meet targets on stroke care

Published on Tuesday 29 September 2009 22:23

HOSPITALS in Scotland are failing to meet set standards for the care of stroke victims.

Not a single hospital meets all the standards, while some are meeting as few as one of the six set down by experts. The Scottish Government said improvements were needed.

The findings came in an analysis of how hospitals measured up last year to six standards for stroke care.

Across Scotland, 57 per cent of patients were admitted to a stroke unit within a day of being admitted to hospital, against a minimum target of 70 per cent. All patients should have a test on the day of admission for the ability to swallow, but only 46 per cent had one in 2008.

However, 89 per cent of stroke patients had a brain scan within two days of admission – beating the 80 per cent target. And all patients with a particular type of stroke should be given aspirin within two days, but the actual rate was 76 per cent.

The final standard is for 80 per cent of mini-stroke victims to be assessed in a neurovascular clinic within 14 days, and ideally within seven days. The respective figures for last year were 81 and 59 per cent.