Heart failure means the heart is not able to pump blood effectively around the body. It happens when the heart becomes weak or stiff. It doesn’t mean the heart stops working, but it needs extra support to function well.

The challenge

Heart failure is a common and progressive condition affecting around 900,000 people in the UK. It accounts for over 5% of emergency hospital visits for those aged 65 and over. As people live longer and survival rates for heart disease improve, more people will be affected. However, many cases are diagnosed too late, often in the hospital, even though symptoms appear earlier in primary care. Diagnosis delays are more common in ethnic minority groups and those from disadvantaged areas. Raising awareness and improving early diagnosis and treatment (like point-of-care testing) will lead to better outcomes.

The Heart Failure Programme:

The Heart Failure Programme aims to improve patient outcomes and reduce the healthcare burden by focusing on four main stages:

  • Prevent: continue to build on legacy lipid management and blood pressure optimisation programmes – cardiovascular risk factor management.
  • Detect: timely diagnosis through increased awareness and access to NT proBNP. Improved access to point of care ultrasound and subsequent echocardiography.
  • Protect: timely initiation of disease modifying therapies. Cardiovascular risk factor management and optimised management of co-morbidities. Application of digital solutions to support remote monitoring.
  • Perfect: continual review of disease modifying therapies and consideration of non-pharmacological interventions. Closer working with heart failure specialist teams and robust systems of recall for reviews.

Programme aims include:

  • Early detection and diagnosis: the goal is to reduce hospital diagnoses of heart failure from 80% to 40% by detecting it earlier in primary care settings.
  • Better management: cut down on avoidable re-admissions by ensuring people get the right treatment, whether at home, through virtual wards, or other care settings.
  • Treatment options: this includes both medicines and non-medicinal therapies like cardiac rehab.

Health Innovation West of England hosted two webinars on deprescribing for cardiac conditions. You can watch the webinar recordings on our Polypharmacy webpage.

If you would like more information about our heart failure services or to arrange a call, please contact us at healthinnowest.transformation@nhs.net.