Northamptonshire clinician named as GP of the year by PULSE for stroke reduction programme aided by GRASP-AF audit tool

The GRASP-AF audit tool has played an important part in a Nene CCG stroke reduction initiative that has seen emergency hospital admissions fall. The project’s success in improving the management of patients at high risk of stroke led to its developer, Dr Yassir Javaid, being named as GP of the year 2015 by PULSE.

Dr Javaid, who practises at Danes Camp Medical Centre in Northampton and is the GP Primary Care Lead for the East Midlands Cardiovascular Network, received his award at a ceremony in central London at the end of November last year. The locally commissioned scheme to Improve outcomes for patients at high risk of a cerebrovascular accident (stroke) was developed by Dr Javaid to identify and optimise the treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and assess the most appropriate treatment for their needs.

The majority of practices were involved in the scheme and GRASP-AF was the CCG recommended audit tool to identify those high risk AF patients potentially not adequately protected. Practices were then incentivised to review these patients and to optimise their treatment.

The early results (February to April 2015) of the scheme showed a month-on-month reduction in the number of patients who had been admitted to local hospitals with a stroke, which equated to 18 fewer stroke admissions compared to same period in the previous year.

Dr Javaid commented on the use of the GRASP-AF audit tool: “We recommended use of the GRASP-AF audit tool to first case find patients and then to identify those at high risk but not protected who would benefit from a review to reduce their risk of stroke”