About the audit

The Scottish Stroke Care Audit is part of the Scottish National Audit Program within Public Health Scotland (PHS). PHS is a national special health board of NHS Scotland, jointly sponsored by the Scottish Government and COSLA, which launched on 1 April 2020.

The Scottish Stroke Care Audit checks the quality of stroke care in hospitals in Scotland. Quality of care is measured against the Scottish Stroke Care Standards and Health Boards are provided with reports on a monthly basis. Performance is monitored locally and nationally and actions agreed to improve performance against the standards ultimately improving delivery of stroke care in Scotland.

Aims & Objectives of the Scottish Stroke Care Audit (SSCA)

AIM

To improve the care of patients who have suffered a stroke by the use of systematic, comprehensive audit of their management and outcome providing feedback through regular reporting and annual review of performance against national stroke care standards.

OBJECTIVES

• Establish and maintain relevant high quality validated datasets;
• Establish and maintain electronic database for collection of SSCA data;
• Develop and regularly review evidence based national standards of stroke care;
• Monitor compliance to the agreed national standards of stroke care;
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting of results;
• Ensure analysis of variance is conducted in a timely, objective manner and that appropriate action is taken when necessary in line with clinical governance, e.g Annual Health Board Review Meetings and Follow-up Meetings as necessary;
• Support staff to use the data effectively to drive improvement in delivery of stroke care at a local level;
• Collaborate with other agencies to develop quality improvement initiatives;
• Encourage secondary data use to aid research and practice development both at a local and national level;
• Indentify specific aspects of care that would benefit from review using sprint audits;
• Raise awareness of standards of stroke care delivery in hospitals across Scotland by publishing an Annual National Report and
• Share best practice with colleagues, e.g. Annual National SSCA Meeting