About stroke audits

The National Stroke Audit is a Stroke Foundation initiative delivered as part of our commitment to promoting evidence-based stroke care. The National Stroke Audit provides longitudinal data on clinical performance.

The National Stroke Audit first commenced in 2007 and each alternate year the Stroke Foundation switches focus between acute stroke services and inpatient rehabilitation services The report provided present data in an accessible format to help services and state clinical networks to identify where improvements are required, lobby for change and celebrate success. Audits are a quality improvement measure and one of the seven pillars of clinical governance.

National Stroke Audit Methodology (PDF)

Data governance

• Data governance is of paramount importance to Stroke Foundation. We have strict policies and procedures to ensure the integrity and security of the data we collect. We have reviewed our data governance in the lead up to Acute Audit 2023.
• Independent advice concluded that the Stroke Foundation Audit does not require ethics approval, as it does not collect identifiable data and should be considered routine clinical practice related to reviewing and improving processes of care.
• Audit data is not visible to, or shared with, other programs that use the AuSDaT (for example the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry).
• Patient first name and last name are used to create a record in the Australian Stroke Data Collection Tool (AuSDaT) but are not stored. The AuSDaT converts name, date of birth and gender, into a code known as a statistical linkage key (SLK). This is used by various government databases and allows the database to prevent an episode of care from being entered more than once. Data cannot be re-identified from the SLK. More information about SLKs can be found at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's (AIHW) Metadata Online Registry (METEOR).
• Stroke Foundation Audit complies with National Privacy Legislation and specific jurisdictional requirements e.g., the NSW Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.
• Server provision for the AuSDaT is by Amazon Web Services (AWS) Australia, based in Sydney. AWS is compliant with internationally recognised standards for information security management best practices, comprehensive security controls, and protection of data. The database is protected by Secure Sockets Layer, the highest available level of security.
• Stroke Foundation commissions periodic penetration testing (an evaluation of security) on the AuSDaT to ensure there are no weaknesses in the system.
• We strongly promote the review of audit data for quality improvement and encourage sites to consent to us sharing a summary of their site data with their state clinical network or health department. This is to allow for collaborative efforts for improvement across each state and territory.
• The purpose of the Audit is to support hospitals to monitor and improve the care of people affected by stroke and it is provided free of charge to ensure it is accessible to all. Audit reports provide national benchmarking and present data in an accessible format to help services and state clinical networks to identify where improvements are required, to lobby for change and celebrate success.
   

For more detailed information about audit data governance, or to request access to data from the National Stroke Audit, please contact us on audit@strokefoundation.org.au

Australian Stroke Coalition Quality Stroke Service Awards

Hospitals that participate in the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR) or the Acute Services National Stroke Audit can be considered for two awards that recognise outstanding stroke care:

• Australian Stroke Coalition (ASC) Quality Stroke Service Awards
• World Stroke Organization (WSO) Angels Awards (international).
   

Find out more about the awards

Stroke Foundation Audits: a 20-year retrospective (2019)

This independent report by Monash University researchers uses data from the acute and rehabilitation services audit reports to show how stroke treatment and care has changed since 1999.

Summary report – Evaluation of the National Stroke Audit Program: 20-year report (PDF)

Full report – Evaluation of the National Stroke Audit Program: 20-year report (PDF)