HEALTH boards are failing to meet five out of six key targets for patients who are admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke.
The Scottish Stroke Care Audit suggests that patients are facing a postcode lottery of care, with some hospitals making improvements in treatment while others perform worse than they did a year ago.
The report shows patients are not being admitted to specialist stroke units quickly enough and often miss out on the treatment they should be given on admission to hospital.
Health campaigners claimed that, despite improvements at some hospitals, the research reveals many are still failing to offer the best standard of care.
David Clark, chief executive of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, said: "While these figures show there have been continuing improvements in the care of patients with stroke in Scotland, there is clearly still some way to go before we can ensure that everyone who has a stroke receives the best possible care.
"The most important point is patients are admitted into a specialist stroke unit; while this doesn't guarantee patients the highest quality of care, not being admitted to a stroke unit pretty well guarantees they won't receive it."
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in Scotland and the most common cause of severe physical disability in Scottish adults.
Around 13,000 people in Scotland have a stroke each year, costing the NHS at least £100 million annually, around 5% of the entire Scottish NHS budget.
Government targets aim to ensure 60% of patients are admitted to a specialist stroke unit on the day they are admitted to hospital and 90% by the following day. However, the audit shows that, last year, just 45% were admitted on the day of admission and 72% the following day.
All patients should also be given a test to ensure they can swallow properly on the day of admission, but just 61% were. At least 80% should be given a brain scan on admission to hospital, but only 57% were.
Patients with ischaemic stroke should also all receive aspirin straight away, but the figures show that just 72% did.
A total of 28 hospitals failed to meet the required standards of care, while treatment at five hospitals, including Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire, Glasgow's Southern General Hospital, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin and Stracathro Hospital in Angus, had worsened since 2010.
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Inverclyde Royal Infirmary were the best performers, meeting targets in five out of six performance indicators.
The report showed that, overall, health boards met just one target, for 80% of patients to be seen within seven days of referral. In 2011, 83% of patients visiting neurovascular clinics were seen within a week.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We welcome this report which shows that people are getting better stroke treatment than even before.
"We're seeing continued improvement in all of the key aspects of stroke care, in particular, real progress in terms of improved access to neurovascular clinic referrals and brain scanning.
"Stroke has been a clinical priority for NHS Scotland for the last 15 years and in that time we've seen a 60% cut in premature deaths from stroke. That's a fantastic achievement, but we recognise there is more to do.
"We expect that the HEAT target for stroke unit admissions, introduced in April 2011, will help ensure that people get faster access to the specialist stroke care they need, and improve their chances of making a recovery."
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