Stroke HIT 2022-23

Shaping the Stroke Programme

2022-23 was a productive year for the Stroke HIT, working alongside partners to negotiate and shape the Stroke Programme for Bristol North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG).

Amplifying the voices of people with lived experience

The HIT Lived Experience Group (formerly the Service User Group) – which recently recruited more members – continues to shape the delivery of the reconfigured stroke care pathway, with service users part of a key quoracy on the BNSSG Stroke Implementation Board. The group is also sourcing, and commenting upon, appropriate methods of evaluation of the new services that will be provided.

Members have been asked to take part in a range of academic and company research projects, as part of trial groups and by serving on co-production steering groups. The group has also instigated and is developing networks with other patient voice groups across BNSSG, to ensure the public voice is central to the planning and development of all health and care services.

Enabling research delivery

The HIT has supported several successful funding applications and is also involved in a pipeline of developing projects, to ensure that the Stroke Programme will enable the delivery of research through the reconfigured service.

Providing stroke education and training

Work to provide stroke education and training for staff is ongoing. The HIT is supporting staff from Bristol After Stroke and the Stroke Association with a training programme for Bristol and North Somerset. This included co-ordinating a successful in-person One Stroke Workforce continuing professional development event, which attracted more than 100 attendees from the NHS, Sirona, local councils and the voluntary sector. The HIT welcomed Professor Dame Caroline Watkins to explain the stroke-specific education framework (SSEF), which is intended to be utilised across stroke services within BNSSG.

Monthly learning sessions for people affected by stroke continue to be successful and well attended. A bid has been submitted to the West of England Integrated Stroke Delivery Network for funding towards a new two and three day multi-professional stroke course.

Welcoming new co-directors

Claire Angell and Viv Harrison have been appointed as new co-directors. Claire has taken a leading role in the development of what is now the Lived Experience Group and is making an enormous contribution to the Stroke Programme. Viv’s involvement strengthens the HIT’s links to cardiovascular disease prevention groups and initiatives within the BNSSG Integrated Care System, which will enable the HIT to better support the prevention of stroke and cardiovascular disease in our region.

Funding enabled in 2022-23

Stroke HIT helped secure £888,000 in 2022-23 for research, improving outcomes and addressing health inequalities.