Oral Presentation Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation Conference 2025

The national clinical quality stroke registry program to support improvements in acute stroke care: progress update. (123275)

Dominique Cadilhac 1 2 , Julie L Morrison 1 , Sandy Middleton 3 4 , Kelvin Hill 5 , Timothy Kleinig 6 , Monique F Kilkenny 1 2 , Andrew Wesseldine 7 , Jennifer Muller 8 , Jacqueline Close 9 , Vincent Thijs 1 10 , Helen Castley 11 , Andrew Wong 12 13 14 , Aylissa Canning 12 , Ben Clissold 15 , Richard Lindley 16 , Helen Dewey 17 , on behalf of AuSCR collaborators 1
  1. Stroke Division, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
  2. Stroke and Ageing Research, School of Clinical Sciences , Monash University , Clayton, Victoria, Australia
  3. Nursing Research Institute, St Vincent’s Health Australia (Sydney) and Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  4. School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic , Australian Catholic University , Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. Stroke Foundation, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  6. Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  7. Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, WA, Australia
  8. Lived experience representative , Queensland, Australia
  9. Neuroscience Research Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  10. Austin Hospital, Heiderberg, Vic, Australia
  11. Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart, TAS, Australia
  12. Queensland Stroke Clinical Network, Queensland, Australia
  13. Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Metro North Health, Queensland, Australia
  14. University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
  15. Safer Care Victoria, Victoria, Australia
  16. Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  17. Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Box Hill, Victoria, Australia

Background/Aims

The Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR) supports hospitals to improve the quality of acute stroke care and provides insights on patient outcomes. Our aim is to outline the future of this national stroke registry program.

 

Methods

An external review was undertaken in 2022. Progress was assessed against the following recommendations accepted by the Steering Committee: (1) an updated governance structure, (2) securing more sustainable funding including support from the Commonwealth government, (3) more timely feedback of data with the development of interactive data dashboards, (4) expansion of the registry into additional hospitals, (6) modernising the data platform through a Medical Research Future Fund infrastructure grant, and (7) open reporting.

 

Results

The new AuSCR Board was convened in March 2025 and an Operational and Quality Improvement Committee is being established. In July 2024, the registry program was successful in receiving Commonwealth Clinical Quality Registry funding for three years. Nine interactive data dashboards have been released since 2023 for hospitals to interrogate their data in near real-time, plus a project-specific dashboard sharing hospital-level data between hospitals, the first step towards open reporting. Options for smaller volume and private hospitals to participate have been developed. Transition to the new data platform in 2026 will enhance data options.

 

Conclusion

Accurate, timely national data on stroke care is essential to drive improvements in care, improve stroke outcomes and evaluate initiatives such as the National Stroke Targets. The collective efforts will drive forward more efficient, integrated and comprehensive national stroke data for quality improvement.