An island service for people at risk of suffering blood clots, a stroke or deep vein thrombosis has been rated one of the best in the British Isles.

The anticoagulation service achieved the top rating in a twice-yearly report carried out by specialist software provider to the industry DAWN AC, which bench-marked the island against 80 UK sites providing a similar type of care, many of them large NHS teaching hospitals.

Anticoagulants are blood clot-preventing medicines and patients likely to benefit from them are referred for treatment by their GP or hospital doctor. The nurse-led anticoagulation clinic currently sees more than 1,000 people each month and demand is rising, partly due to the availability of a wide range of oral medication options.

Effectiveness of anticoagulation treatment is assessed by the clinical criteria TTR or Time in Therapeutic Range.

This is an internationally-recognised quality measure that indicates stability of the anticoagulant warfarin and a key indicator of a patient’s treatment.

The ultimate goal of anticoagulation is to prevent blood clots with the lowest possible risk of major bleeding - an outcome most likely if an individual’s TTR is maintained.

Noble’s Hospital’s TTR ’score’ of 80.2% means the service is ranked in top position among similar services around the UK.

Minister for Health and Social Care David Ashford said: ’I congratulate the team on its outstanding performance.

’The report shows improvement year on year since we reconfigured the service in 2012, which is particularly pleasing. Our team’s performance surpassed key standards set by the British Society for Haematology, another highlight of the DAWN AC report we can be very proud of.’

The anticoagulation team runs four clinics at Noble’s Hospital each week and two at Ramsey Cottage Hospital.

Clinics are also held once a week at GP surgeries in Peel and Port Erin, and for the past year the team has offered domiciliary visits to individual patients in their homes and in care homes, in line with the department’s strategy of providing care as close to home as possible.