FAIRFIELD Hospital’s specialist stroke unit has been classed as the best performing in the country.

According to Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) data for April to June, gathered by the Royal College of Physicians, the unit achieved an "A" rating for nearly all measures, culminating in a total team rating of "A".

Staff at the hospital’s hyper-acute stroke centre say this result coincides with Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust launching a seven-day stroke service at Fairfield in April as part of the new Greater Manchester model of stroke care.

Dr Khalil Kawafi, consultant physician at the trust said: “The reconfiguration and centralisation of stroke services at the trust has allowed us to simplify the pathway for stroke patients, ensuring that everyone in the north east sector of Greater Manchester gets access to the hyper-acute stroke centre.

"We are proud of our door-to-needle time of 30 to 35 minutes which is a marker of good quality stroke care.

"Stroke centralisation has ensured that we can deliver the necessary staffing for seven-day care. Having all stroke patients on one site has also reduced the burden of repatriation and freed up valuable ambulance resources.

“This achievement would not have been possible without the support and co-operation of our own radiology and A&E departments at Fairfield Hospital. Now that we have shown we can be one of the best, the challenge is to maintain this standard of care for our stroke patients.”

As part of the new Greater Manchester stroke model, Fairfield provides a dedicated hyper-acute stroke unit together with two, 20-bed dedicated acute/stroke rehabilitation units comprising a full multi-disciplinary team.

The SSNAP clinical audit results are based on 20,049 patients admitted to hospital and 19,754 patients discharged from hospital between April 1 and June 30.