23 OCTOBER 2021 • HEALTHCARE INNOVATIONS DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SATURDAY DAILY MAIL


Specialist clinics 21


pandemic, when patients with symptoms suggestive of heart failure have stayed away from their GP and other NHS services1.


HOW COMMON IS HEART FAILURE? In the UK, there are almost one million people living with heart failure1 and it’s the most common cause of hospital admission for people aged over 65. Sadly, it has a worse prognosis than many cancers. Around 80% of people suff ering with the condition only get diagnosed when they become seriously unwell and need to be admitted to hospital due to wors- ening symptoms1. With


100,000 unplanned


hospital admissions per year, there’s every reason to want to treat these all-important patients within the community. T e fi nancial burden of heart failure is estimated to come in at more than £2bn per year2.


WHAT ARE THE TREATMENTS FOR HEART FAILURE? Over the past 10 years, there have been important advances in heart failure care. T ese include specialised new drug thera- pies along with advanced pace- maker and defi brillator thera- pies (implantable cardioverter defi brillator


or cardiac resyn-


chronization therapy implanta- tion). Patients with heart failure are potentially at risk of sudden cardiac death, emphasising the importance of access to these


(or


advanced technologies. Opti- mising care and compliance with guidelines (including medi- cations and device technology) can lead to signifi cant improve- ments in patients’ quality of life and long-term outlook, allowing them to live well for longer3. Biventricular cardiac


resynchronization


therapy) are specialist devices that can help the heart pump


more eff ectively and improve heart failure symptoms. Implant- able cardiac defi brillators help protect patients from dangerous heart rhythm disturbances. T e cardiac device implant is


a simple procedure done using local anaesthetic. T e procedure normally takes between 60-90 minutes to complete and involves passing pacemaker leads directly into the heart under X-ray guid- ance. By allowing the heart to pump more eff ectively, patients report symptom improve- ment and some of the devices also protect against dangerous (potentially


life-threatening)


heart rhythm disturbances and can thus improve the long-term prognosis in patients with heart failure. Many of these cardiac devices are followed up with remote monitoring using an app on a smartphone or tablet and can detect (usually well in advance) when a patient may be deteriorating, so prompt


intervention can take place and avoid hospitalisation and wors- ening symptoms. In this way, patients are continuously moni- tored via their cardiac device. At least 28% of heart failure


patients could benefi t from a cardiac device today, but only around one third of those patients are actually receiving this treatment.


HOW ARE SERVICES BEING IMPROVED? Initiatives to help busy primary care services to identify patients with heart failure who need changes to their care, based on the


latest clinical guidelines,


are of great importance. T is missed patient cohort under non-specialist care is much less likely to benefi t from the latest strategies and by inference will probably have a higher risk of becoming more unwell than patients treated in conventional heart failure services.


T e Primary Care Heart


Failure Service is a collabo- ration with industry partners (Medtronic and Inspira Health) and NHS cardiology


consult-


ants. T e project aims to iden- tify patients with heart failure who may not have an accurate diagnosis or are undertreated in the community. T e service seeks


to ‘level up’ access to


heart failure specialised ther- apies in undertreated areas by providing NHS consultant-led specialist clinics in the commu- nity. T e outcome data from the project identifi ed an extra 45% of patients needing medi- cation changes and around one third of the patients seen would potentially benefi t from cardiac device therapy.


pacemakers


AT LEAST 28% OF HEART FAILURE PATIENTS COULD BENEFIT FROM A CARDIAC DEVICE TODAY, BUT ONLY AROUND ONE THIRD OF THOSE PATIENTS ARE RECEIVING THIS TREATMENT


If you have symptoms that are concerning you, visit your GP. For more information, visit: medtronic.com/uk-en/patients.html bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/conditions/heart-failure


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