The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme data shows less than half of patients admitted to hospital with a stroke were taking anticoagulants.

A report by SAFI (British Pharmaceutical Stroke in Atrial Fibrillation Initiative) shows that a quarter of at risk patients with atrial fibrillation are being treated with medicines not recommended by NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). More effective and NICE recommended as an alternative to warfarin, are NOAC's (non Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anti-Coagulants, such as Pradaxa (dabigatran), Xarelto (rivaroxaban). Eliquis (apixaban) and Lixiana (edoxaban). The report states that aspirin should no longer be used alone to prevent atrial fibrillation related stroke.

The Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP)-One year on – why are patients still having unnecessary AF-related strokes?- showed that even after the NICE recommendation less than half of patients admitted to hospital with a stroke were taking anticoagulants despite having atrial fibrillation and over a quarter were still taking aspirin.