Stroke services at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals have been rated as among the best in the country following a national audit.

The National Stroke Audit ranks the Foundation Trust in the top quartile (that’s within the top 25%) of all Trusts and is among the best in the south west and the country.

The national audit measured eight aspects of stroke care across the whole of the patient journey, including the presence of neurovascular/TIA (mini stroke) clinics, communication with patients and carers and the availability of a strategic group for stroke.

Stroke consultant Dr Damian Jenkinson, who is also the National Clinical Lead for the NHS Stroke Programme said: “We are really focused on aiming to deliver excellent care for our stroke patients and are delighted to hear that we have successfully built on our position from the National Sentinel Stroke Audit in 2009 when we were also ranked among the best in the country.

“While we have remained in the top quartile this is even more pleasing as the standards have been set higher, yet our performance has still improved.

“We know that while this performance is excellent we don’t get it right every time and we continue to work as a multi-disciplinary team to ensure joined up care. We want to make the stroke pathway as seamless as possible across both the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals.”

The stroke audit includes the performance of 159 participating Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is completed every two years. You can find out more at www.rcplondon.ac.uk