This work informs the way stroke care is delivered and provides the latest evidence based information for health professionals caring for stroke.

In some instances the work is related to health policy and informs the development and change to health systems. In others instances the National Stroke Foundation develops resources for health professionals which support the delivery of best practice stroke care, including national stroke guidelines and national stroke audits.

National Stroke Audit Rehabilitation Services 2010

 Participation involves completion of an organisational survey that describes the nature of your rehabilitation services. For hospitals that are interested there is also a clinical audit component which involves a retrospective medical case note review to examine the quality of care delivered by your hospital.

The 2010 audit follows on from the highly successful Post Acute Stroke Audit, conducted in 2008. National and site-specific reports are provided to each participating hospital which may be used for benchmarking against similar hospitals and with hospitals in your state.

Those who participated in 2008 will be able for the first time to compare current quality of care at your hospital to that described in the first National Stroke Audit Post Acute Services now known as the National Stroke Audit Rehabilitation Services.

If you are interested in your hospital participating please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Click here to view Audit Reports from previous years.

Interactive Audit Workshops

Using data to make a difference

Operating since 2007 the National Stroke Audit is an initiative of the National Stroke Foundation and part of a process committed to facilitating the delivery of evidence-based hospital care for stroke.

As a new initiative in 2010 the National Stroke Foundation will be running a series of interactive workshops, for sites that have previously participated in the audit program, to help you drive improvements based on results of the data from the 2009 National Stroke Audit. At this full day workshop you will have a chance to:

•    Understand how to get the most out of your data
•    Identify and overcome common barriers to change
•    Share success stories with other clinicians
•    Develop practical strategies, solutions and actions to take back to your team

Topics covered include:

•    Stroke unit care
•    Early intervention
•    Assessment and intervention
•    Coordination and communication
•    Discharge planning

Audit workshop online registration  

Australian Stroke Coalition (ASC) 

The ASC was recently established by the National Stroke Foundation and Stroke Society of Australasia - 11 July, 2008. The Coalition brings together representatives from groups and organisations working in the stroke field, such as clinical networks and professional associations/colleges. This group will work together to tackle agreed priorities to improve stroke care, reduce duplication amongst groups and strengthen the voice for stroke care at a national and state level.  Find out more

Absolute Cardiovascular Disease Risk

The Guidelines for the assessment of absolute cardiovascular disease risk are now available. This is the first Australian guideline developed to support health professionals in the assessment of absolute cardiovascular risk.

Developed by the National Vascular Disease Prevention Alliance (NVDPA), the guidelines make recommendations for assessing absolute CVD risk in adults aged 45-74 years (35 years and above for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander adults). The guidelines are approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Click here to access the Guidelines and associated publications. The Australian Absolute Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Calculator is based on recommendations in the Guidelines. Click here to access the online calculator (this link will take you to an external website).

Clinical Guidelines for Stroke and TIA Management 

The general practitioner (GP) is in a unique position to assist in the primary prevention of stroke and TIA, provide advice on early assessment of suspected stroke.This document aims to provide GPs with a summary of relevant clinical guidelines for the management of stroke and TIA from two national guidelines approved by the National Health and Medical Council (NHMRC): the Clinical Guidelines for Acute Stroke Management and the Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Rehabilitation and Recovery.

There is a concise and full version available. 

The Acute Stroke Services Framework provides an outline of an updated model to guide the establishment and development of stroke units across Australia.

There is a summary and full report available.

A new program, StrokeLink has also been developed to link best practice care (guidelines) with current evidence (audit data) to support improvements in the quality of stroke care delivery. Find out more about StrokeLink.