The SSNAP acute organisational audit provides a biennial ‘snapshot’ of the structure and organisation of acute stroke services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It includes data on the number of stroke beds, staffing, access to specialist treatment and support, and patient and carer engagement. The audit has been run every 2-3 years since 2012, with all rounds achieving 100% participation from eligible trusts and Health Boards.

The aims of the most recent acute organisational audit in 2021 were:

1. To audit performance against the requirements in the 2016 National Clinical Guideline for Stroke and other relevant evidence and policy documents
2. To enable trusts to benchmark the quality of their stroke services nationally and regionally
3. To measure the extent to which the recommendations made in the 2019 acute organisational audit had been implemented
4. To measure changes over time in the resources available for specialist acute stroke care, in particular the workforce.

Eligibility

Acute hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland directly admitting stroke patients or routinely admitting them within 7 days were eligible to participate in the acute organisational audit.

Before 2012, only hospitals which directly admitted acute stroke patients were able to participate, but this was changed in 2012 due to the centralisation of stroke services and the establishment of a hyperacute model of stroke care in different parts of the country.