Oral Presentation Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation Conference 2026

Australian Stroke Care: National performance and future directions from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (139527)

Julie L Morrison 1 , Mulugeta M Birhanu 1 2 , Melita Stirling 3 , Rohan A Grimley 4 5 , Richard I Lindley 6 , Dominique A Cadilhac 1 2 , on behalf of the AuSCR Consortium 1
  1. The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, HEIDELBERG, VICTORIA, Australia
  2. Stroke and Ageing Research, School of Clinical Sciences , Monash University , Clayton, Victoria, Australia
  3. Stroke Foundation, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Birtinya, Queensland, Australia
  5. Sunshine Coast University Hospital , Birtinya, Qld, Australia
  6. Westmead Applied Research Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Background:
The Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR) provides standardised monitoring of stroke care to support quality improvement and benchmarking.
The aim of this presentation is to describe clinical and outcome data and AuSCR initiatives supporting hospital-level stroke care improvements including innovations to collect, summarise or utilise the data.    

Methods:
Clinical data from 63 Australian adult hospitals from six states and territories in 2024 are described. Patient‑reported outcomes were obtained 90–180 days post‑stroke. Changes over time were compared for 48 hospitals that contributed >30 episodes per year between 2019 and 2024.

Results:
In 2024, 19,761 episodes of acute care were recorded. Thrombolytic therapy was provided to 13% of patients with ischaemic stroke, with a median door‑to‑needle time of 67 minutes and 11 hospitals achieving the National Target of median cases treated <60 minutes. Patient‑reported outcomes were available for 57% of eligible survivors (n=7,616); 64% reported none to slight disability. Over time, care performance showed mixed trends; stroke unit care remained stable (2019: 81%, 2024: 80%), while swallow screening prior to oral intake (48% to 61%), and prescription of antihypertensives on discharge (75% to 88%) improved significantly (both p for trends <0.001). The introduction of interactive data dashboards has augmented the ability for hospitals to monitor their care in real-time. Further innovations include an advanced data platform and updated minimum dataset.

Conclusions:
AuSCR data demonstrate continued progress in acute stroke care in Australia, while new data infrastructure will further strengthen national quality improvement and research capacity.