Provision of stroke thrombolysis services in New Zealand: changes between 2011 and 2016

To obtain an overall picture of the organisation of stroke thrombolysis provision in New Zealand hospitals and compare changes between 2011 and 2016.

Surveys were distributed to all New Zealand district health boards (DHBs) in 2011 and 2016, and included questions about the infrastructure, staffing, training, guidelines and audit provided for stroke thrombolysis.

Responses were received from all DHBs, with 86% offering stroke thrombolysis in 2011 and 100% in 2016. In 2016, thrombolysis rosters of large DHBs (those with a population >250,000 people) had a mean (range) of 14 (5-34) clinicians, approximately double that of medium-sized DHBs (population 125-250,000) who had eight (3-15) and small DHBs (population <125,000) with seven, (2-13) clinicians. While a similar distribution of senior medical officer clinical specialty was seen across medium and small DHBs in both years, large DHBs in 2016 had a higher number of neurologists (5, 1-12) and an increasing number of general physicians (8, 0-30) rostered to provide thrombolysis compared to 2011. Thrombolysis services at medium and small DHBs are chiefly managed by general physicians and geriatricians, while telestroke support was only available in three medium-sized DHBs. In 2016, all hospitals had developed thrombolysis guidelines and audited thrombolysed patients in the National Stroke Thrombolysis Register, which is an improvement compared with 2011 when only seven (39%) DHBs reported regular audit. Challenges in staffing and training remain greatest in smaller and geographically isolated DHBs.

While there have been improvements in the provision of stroke thrombolysis throughout New Zealand, regional variations in service quality remains. The needs for better solutions to geographical barriers and formal training must be addressed as priorities.