New clinical guidelines for stroke launched
Two new clinical guidelines were launched on Wednesday 23 July 2008, one from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and one from The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).
The guidelines recommend that all patients suspected of having a stroke should be admitted as quickly as possible to an acute stroke unit, either from the community or by being transferred from Accident & Emergency.
The NICE guideline ‘Diagnosis and initial management of acute stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA)' covers the acute stage of a stroke or TIA, mainly the first 48 hours after symptoms start.
The RCP guideline is the third edition of the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke and incorporates the NICE guideline. The RCP guideline also contains 21 main recommendations covering all aspects of stroke care, and is aimed at improving the quality of care delivered to everyone who has a stroke in the UK regardless of age, gender, type of stroke, location or any other feature.
The RCP guideline, produced by the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party, incorporates the NICE guideline and also covers recovery and rehabilitation, secondary prevention, and long term care, and has new sections on commissioning and resources.
The guidelines were produced in close collaboration with each other, and both reference and relate to the Department of Health’s National Stroke Strategy (2007).
Read the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network guidelines concerning the management of patients with TIA and Stroke.
Guideline 108 - Management of patients with stroke or TIA: Assessment, investigation, immediate management and secondary prevention was published in December 2008.
Guideline 64 - Management of patients with stroke: rehabilitation, prevention and management of complication, and discharge planning was first published in November 2002 and updated in October 2006.
