New Clinical Guidelines for Stroke
Two new clinical guidelines were launched on Wednesday 23 July, 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 A&E.
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).
