We are focused on delivering a clinically relevant, patient centred quality improvement programme for our local stroke and neurorehabilitation pathways of care. Given the ongoing financial challenges in health and social care, we have shifted emphasis to improvements that are cost saving or neutral, or require limited new resource. The “low hanging fruit” often centres on upskilling and training staff, improving communication and information sharing between teams and/or patients or adapting ways of work to improve efficiency.
Our portfolio of projects is diverse and covers the whole patient journey for stroke as well as community and longer-term support for neurorehabilitation.
To find out more about our projects or their impacts, get in touch with the relevant Facilitator who will be happy to provide further information.
Active projects (updated May 2026)
We have a number of paused projects that are part of wider work led by the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board e.g. wheelchairs, seating, splinting, lycra & orthotics. It is likely these will resume when the system is ready to move forward.
Projects in development for 2026 include:
- Nursing/support worker involvement in rehabilitation
- Carers support
| Project title | Objective(s) | Facilitator | Reports to | Projected end date |
| CVD prevention | ||||
| Atrial fibrillation (AF) monitoring | Support improvements in access to timely monitoring on stroke wards and on discharge | Chris Ashton | Stroke Inpatient & Community Forum | 31/03/26 |
| Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) | Implement updated TIA referral form and support education by stroke teams locally | Chris Ashton | Stroke Inpatient & Community Forum | 31/12/26 |
| Urgent care | ||||
| Pre-hospital pathway | Review updated pathway with NWAS to identify and implement improvements | Chris Ashton | HASU Forum | Ongoing |
| Imaging | Support implementation of national imaging pathway for stroke including roll out of CT Perfusion and rapid MR at HASUs | Chris Ashton | HASU Forum | 31/12/26 |
| Thrombolysis & Mechnical Thrombectomy | Improve intervention rates at HASUs | Chris Ashton | HASU Forum | Ongoing |
| Acute care | ||||
| Patient Pass | Implement online system to improve stroke referral management across system | Chris Ashton | Stroke Inpatient & Community Forum | 31/12/26 |
| WWL stroke pathway | Support WWL to improve patient flow and access to inpatient rehabilitation | Sarah Rickard | Oversight Group | Ongoing |
| MFT stroke pathway | Support MFT in developing its stroke service across the Trust | Sarah Rickard | Oversight Group | Ongoing |
| Rehabilitation | ||||
| Cardiorespiratory training | Support implementation of the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke recommendation to improve health and reduce the risk of secondary CVD. | Gemma Smith | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 30/09/26 |
| Facial rehabilitation | Improve access to appropriate services in GM. Scope extent of project | Hannah Jones | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/3/27 |
| Fatigue management | Develop pathways and upskill staff | Cillian O’Briain | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/12/26 |
| Functional Neurological Disorder | Improve equity of access to community services. Upskill GM workforce. Audit services to inform future improvement work | Hannah Jones | NR Inpatient & Community Forum | 31/3/27 |
| Increasing intensity and frequency of rehabilitation | Support teams in delivering increased rehabilitation through: digital health technologies, accessing community/voluntary sector, workforce/training & education, self management, semi supervised practice | Cillian O’Briain | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/3/27 |
| Motor Neurone Disease (MND) emotional wellbeing project | Follow on project focusing on exploring and enhancing emotional wellbeing pathways for MND | Cillian O’Briain | MND Steering Group | 01/12/26 |
| Multiple Sclerosis (MS) pathway development | Support improvements in GM MS pathway | Cillian O’Briain | MS Steering Group | 31/12/26 |
| Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest | Establish a model of care with GM cardiac services | Hannah Jones | NR Inpatient & Community Forum | 31/12/26 |
| Paediatric transition | Scope existing pathways and practice in CNRTs, and implement improvements if required | Hannah Jones | NR Inpatient & Community Forum | 31/12/26 |
| Parkinson’s | Scope current specialist provision and develop programme to improve equity of access | Cillian O’Briain | Parkinson’s Steering Group | 31/12/27 |
| Self management platform | Facilitate development of a platform for service users with Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences | Cillian O’Briain | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/3/27 |
| Spasticity | Ensure equitable, high quality and appropriately commissioned services across GM following regional audit in 2026 | Hannah Jones | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/03/27 |
| Specialist equipment provision | Improve the GM specialist equipment provision pathways to create equitable access across localities. Review support in care homes | Cillian O’Briain | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/12/26 |
| Vestibular rehabilitation | Develop pathways and training for professionals | Hannah Jones | Rehabilitation Subgroup | 31/12/26 |
| Workforce development | Update and expand stroke introductory training. Support programme for experienced staff. Develop resources (toolkits etc) and eLearning. | Sarah Rickard | Workforce Development Subgroup | Ongoing |
| Longer Term Support | ||||
| Longer Term Support | Support implementation of the NHSE Life After Stroke and GM Longer Term Support for neurological conditions models in all GM localities | Hannah Jones | Oversight Group | 31/03/27 |
| Patient & Carer involvement | ||||
| Empowering patients and carers | Empower people with Lived Experience to have increased influence over the work of the network | Sarah Rickard | Patient & Carer Group | Ongoing |
Impacts of our projects
It is important that our projects make a difference to the lives of patients and their families. Each project includes a range of measures that help determine their outcomes, outputs and impacts.
A summary of the impacts of projects completed in 2025/26 is below, with further examples highlighted in our annual reports.
