Irish National Audit of Stroke National Report 2020

The Irish National Audit of Stroke (INAS) is a clinically-led audit that measures the quality of stroke care, as well as the structure of stroke services, provided to patients in all hospitals that admit acute stroke patients.

Stroke is the leading cause of acquired disability and the 3rd leading cause of death in Ireland. There are approximately 6000 strokes admitted to Irish hospitals per year - this report analysed data on 5,153 stroke patients. While stroke is looked upon as a disease of the older person, over a quarter of the cases were aged under 65 years. 57% of all cases were male.

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Key Findings

Stroke is a medical emergency which requires urgent treatment. The sooner a person arrives to hospital, is assessed by a doctor and receives a brain scan, the less damage is likely to happen. This results in better outcomes and less disability. Only 50% of patients arrived at hospital within 3 hours of onset of stroke symptoms.

Key Recommendations

Recommendations For The National Office Of Clinical Audit

Complete a study in order to explore the factors contributing to stroke in patients prescribed anticoagulation therapy.
Increase the participation of HSCPs in the HSCP dataset within the Irish National Audit of Stroke (INAS).

Recommendations For The National Stroke Programme

Develop a stroke awareness campaign.
Pilot a large vessel occlusion ambulance bypass for patients with a stroke to the EVT stroke centres in Dublin and Cork.
Improve the level of swallow screening for patients with a stroke.
All stroke services should have access to a clinical neuropsychologist/psychologist as part of a specialist multidisciplinary team providing care to patients with a stroke.