Stroke team wins team of the year award in a national ceremony.

The stroke team at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust won a British Medical Journal Award in recognition of improvements and innovation in the service.

The team beat almost two hundred competitors from the original entry and was chosen as the winner from a final list of six.

It was crowned the Stroke and Cardiovascular Team of the Year after it improved its service rating from a D to an A rating according to the national Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme.

Chief medical officer Magda Smith said: "This accolade is fitting recognition for some remarkable work that the team have delivered, which is transforming our care for patients.

"It’s fantastic to see how colleagues have embraced the challenge and been prepared to think differently about how we provide the best possible care. They can all be rightly proud."

Over the past 18 months, consultant cover has been increased across the department which has allowed for quicker decisions to be made.

The team's consultants also restructured their roles to provide better out-of-hours cover for the emergency department so clinicians can identify stroke patients quickly and care for them appropriately.

Patients admitted to the stoke unit are being seen more quickly, but overall admissions have been reduced by 26 per cent due to faster and more accurate diagnosis.

There is increased bed availability for those who need specialist stroke care - whereas previously, patients had to be admitted to other wards in the hospital not ideally equipped for their care.

The service has also embraced the concept of a “stroke virtual ward” whereby patients who are medically fit, but may be still awaiting test results are sent home, have a direct link to the virtual ward’s matron who can deliver results and provide further advice, while the patient benefits from being at home.

The trust’s clinical leads Devesh Sinha and Amanda Martin paid tributes to the team’s achievements: "We are so proud of everyone’s efforts and also appreciative of other teams around the Trust and outside for their support. We’ve made real progress in the past year. We changed our structure and how we co-ordinated our team.

"We’ve changed the culture and given people the power to make changes, putting the challenge back to them to find their own solutions. They’ve bought in so well, and the results have been fantastic.

"It was a wonderful evening and we were so proud to bring this award home on behalf of the whole trust."