What it is
Certification is how Europe turns "a good stroke unit" from an opinion into a measurable standard.
The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) operates a programme that reviews stroke units and stroke centres against an explicit, published set of structural, process, and outcome criteria. A unit that meets them earns certification; a unit working toward them gets a concrete roadmap. Those criteria and their key performance indicators (KPIs) are set and published by ESO.
Why it matters
Stroke is time-critical and pathway-dependent: outcomes hinge on how a whole system behaves under pressure, not on any single clinician. Certification makes that system legible — it defines what a unit must be able to do, how fast, and how reliably, and it gives patients, hospitals, and payers a common reference point. It is also the backbone of cross-border quality: a standard only means something if it means the same thing in every country.
Current status
- ESO certification criteria and KPI framework published and in active use across Europe
- Links to the published criteria and supporting ESO resources to be expanded here over time