Stroke helpline and information service standards

Our promise to you

The Stroke Information Service and helpline is here to offer confidential information, advice and support to anyone affected by stroke. All enquiries are answered by professional, trained staff who have understand stroke and how it changes lives.

All helpline staff have regular supervision with their line manager, monthly clinical supervision and monthly helpline team meetings to share knowledge and skills.

When you contact us you can expect that you will be listened to and treated as an individual, with respect and courtesy, and given as much time as you need to talk.

We will answer your questions and offer practical and emotional support as well as giving details of other organisations or local sources of support. We will only give balanced, up-to-date information and if we don’t know the answer to your question we’ll research it or signpost you to people who can help.

Accessibility

We produce a comprehensive range of written information materials covering many aspects of stroke. These are also available in large print.

If your first language is not English you can speak to us in one of 150 different languages using the free Language Line telephone interpreting service.

If you have a hearing impairment or communication difficulties and are a text phone user, you can contact us via the Text Relay service.

Quality

To check the quality and consistency of our service, managers may listen in to calls and read emails from time to time. We may also record some calls for training purposes, but please feel free to tell us not to if you are not comfortable with this. All staff are bound by our strict confidentiality policy.

We hold two quality standards which independently guarantee the quality of our work: Customer Service Excellence and the Information Standard and are full members of The Helplines' Association.

Customer Service Excellence logoInformation Standard logoMember of the Helplines Association logo

Service standards

We prioritise quality above everything else so rather than setting targets for how quickly we will answer the telephone we aim to:

  • Answer 80% of calls that are made to the helpline during opening hours
  • Achieve no less than 90% satisfaction rate from people who have used our service
  • Answer 80% of all written enquiries within five working days and 100% within seven working days
  • Revise, update and fully reference all our information publications every two years

See how we are performing.

We welcome all feedback about the helpline and information service.

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