A health charity is to work with hospitals in the North West to help increase the number of people who survive a stroke by 30%.

The Health Foundation also wants to ensure more stroke survivors can walk out of hospital without a long-term disability by 2010.

The pledge, supported by the Stroke Association and the Royal College of Physicians, comes after figures showed that England is failing to meet stroke care targets.

The report by The Health Foundation found that England saw a 16% fall in mortality between 1997 and 2004 whereas Germany saw a 33% reduction during the same period.

Strokes are the third biggest killer in the UK. In England alone there are more than 110,000 strokes each year. It is the leading cause of long-term severe disability in adults.

Figures have also revealed that only 43% of people in England are receiving a brain imaging CT scan within 24 hours of a stroke when national guidelines state this should be happening to all patients.

Stephen Thornton, chief executive of The Health Foundation, said: "This report shows that stroke services are still not good enough in England. We are confident that the stroke strategy is beginning to make important changes but it is clear that more needs to be done quickly. We are acting in the North West; the challenge is now for Government and the rest of the NHS to keep increasing the pace of change."

The report highlighted that as many as 69% of strokes in inner London could be prevented by reducing hypertension, treating abnormal heart rhythms, stopping smoking and prescribing statins.

The charity has also called on bread and cereal manufacturers to reduce the salt content in their products which could help prevent 8,000 strokes a year in England.