Our strategic goals give us a long-term focus. We expect our priorities and activities to flex over time as we adapt to seize opportunities in the changing external environment and gain a deeper understanding of the needs of people affected by stroke. From April 2019, we'll focus on:
Increasing our influencing nationally and locally
We want to get political and health systems to commit to delivering comprehensive improvement programmes and increased funding for stroke across all areas. We'll partner with commissioners and providers to transform services so they focus on outcomes that matter to people affected by stroke. In this work we'll flag the importance of prevention at the population level for stroke and other conditions. We'll also highlight the importance of investing in treatments and ongoing support for life after stroke.
Strengthening our leadership and impact in research
Strengthening our leadership and impact in research in order to leverage more funding into stroke research that's equal to its prevalence and impact. We'll build capacity to grow stroke research leaders across multiple disciplines. And we'll ensure that our own investment goes into the areas of research that have the potential to have the greatest impact on people with stroke and life after stroke.
Targeting support
Targeting support in order to reach more people and help communities most at risk of stroke and most in need of support. This will include developing our own universally accessible support offerings such as the helpline, website, My Stroke Guide, and information leaflets. And we'll explore working with partners on further specialised and local opportunities. We'll use evidence from insight and research to develop a balanced and sustainable approach to our universal, local and more personalised support.
Engaging and mobilising communities
Engaging and mobilising communities in order to support them to take action on stroke as ambassadors and activists. We're at the beginning of this journey and first need to understand how best we can support them either directly or through our partnerships and networks. This will involve us gathering insight, exploring and testing different approaches in collaboration with people affected by stroke and other partners. From there we can evaluate and learn what is most effective.
Increasing and improving public awareness and engagement
Increasing and improving public awareness and engagement to dramatically change public attitudes about stroke and make it a public priority. We'll continue to provide everyone with a positive experience of our charity, taking a more joined up approach to engaging our beneficiaries and supporters so that more people get and give support. This will enable us to fulfil our purpose, grow and make the transformational impact that people affected by stroke need and deserve.