title: National sentinel stroke audit 1998-2011.
abstract: Stroke is a common and devastating disease and, until very recently, was largely unrecognised as a -preventable or treatable condition. Between 1998 and 2010, the National Sentinel Stroke Audit (NSSA) achieved 100% voluntary participation, collecting data on more than 60,000 patients from stroke services within England, Wales and Northern Ireland and becoming a benchmark for hospital stroke services. In this way it has informed stroke improvement at the local, regional and national levels and has overseen a radical change in stroke care within the NHS. This article describes the achievements of the NSSA and the -lessons learned.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, St George's Hospital, London.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cloud
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rudd
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D013222:State Medicine; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: clinical audit; service improvement; stroke