Home-Time

The mean home-time within 180 days post-stroke was 166.6 days, and it decreased systematically with age, deprivation, comorbidity burden, and stroke severity. Home-time increased by 5.8 days from 2020 to 2023 after adjustment, suggesting overall improvement in post-stroke outcomes as pandemic disruptions eased. Home-time correlates with disability and symptom burden but is also influenced by social factors such as family support and does not directly measure neurological impairment. Home-time is defined as days alive and not admitted to hospital within 180 days of the first stroke record, serving as a person-centred proxy for functional recovery derivable from administrative data. Home-time is influenced by social circumstances and not only clinical severity, which is a key limitation of its use as a disability outcome. Home-time is recommended as an addition to national stroke audit systems because it captures socioeconomic and severity-related disparities that routine audits miss and requires no additional data collection.