A quarter of patients in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland who have a stroke still spend no time in a dedicated stroke unit, the most effective treatment for a stroke, an audit has shown.

Although 74% of patients now spend some of their time in hospital in a stroke unit, and 68% spend more than half their time in a stroke unit—an improvement on the 2006 figures of 62% and 54%, respectively—26% (2967 of 11 369 patients included in the audit) receive no care in a stroke unit, says the National Sentinel Audit for Stroke 2008. These patients risk being left with unnecessary disability or may die needlessly because of failure to organise care effectively, the report says.

The audit was carried out on behalf of the Intercollegiate Stroke Group by the Royal College of Physicians.