To ask the Minister of Health for his assessment of the E grade given to the Ulster Hospital by the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme between July 2023 and September 2023 in relation to timely access to admission to stroke units.

The Stroke Sentinel National Audit Programme (SSNAP) data provides the basis for ongoing performance management of stroke services regionally and within HSC Trusts.

1) SSNAP provides 10 acute key performance indicators to benchmark, monitor and manage performance all of which are evidence-based interventions. Departmental Officials have reviewed the Ulster Hospital’s SSNAP team-centred data for October to December ’23 which have informed the overall C rating. A number of issues have been identified which impacted on performance during this period. These include the opening of the new Emergency Department (ED) which impacted time to initial scanning, wider system bed pressures delaying access to the stroke unit and teething difficulties importing performance data from Encompass to SSNAP. Work is ongoing in the Ulster Hospital to improve patient flow through ED to the stroke unit and resolve importing issues to SSNAP.

2) The thrombolysis score on SSNAP is based on four metrics. The Ulster hospital performed above the national median rate in three of the four in the period July – September ‘23. However, ongoing system wide bed pressures impacted on the fourth metric regarding direct admission to the stroke unit with 4 hours which affected the overall thrombolysis grade. Whilst the SSNAP score was a C, the South Eastern Trust has provided assurance that all patients who were eligible for thrombolysis did receive it.

3) System-wide bed pressures in the period July – September 2023 impacted on the number of patients admitted to a stroke unit within 4 hours. However, the South Eastern Trust has provided reassurance that access to specialist stroke treatment was not impacted by time of admission to the stroke unit during this period.