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Heart charities call on cash-strapped Health Service to save lives and money through cardiac rehabilitation
Tuesday 13 October 2009
The Health Service could save lives and money by providing life-saving treatment to heart patients, according to two leading medical charities.
The Health Service could save lives and money by providing life-saving treatment to heart patients, according to two leading medical charities.
Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS) and British Heart Foundation (BHF) Northern Ireland have teamed up to campaign for wider access to cardiac rehabilitation - a life-saving programme which will help save the NHS money.
Both charities have come together to launch the Northern Ireland Campaign for Cardiac Rehabilitation today (13 October) at the Long Gallery. The campaign calls for every heart patient who would benefit from this important service to be offered access to a high quality cardiac rehabilitation programme by the end of 2011.
The campaign follows BHF research that found over two-thirds of Northern Ireland heart patients who had a heart attack, an angioplasty or a heart bypass failed to receive this important support programme in 2007-08. (1)
Speaking on the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation at the launch, heart patient Andrew Campbell, aged 41 from Belfast said: "Cardiac rehabilitation was invaluable to me. It picked me up and put me back on my feet. It can be a scary time and having this service made a big difference both in my recovery and in how I live my life today."
Peter Hollins, BHF Chief Executive said: "It is unacceptable that heart patients are not being given the support they need in order to understand their condition and regain a high quality of life. Cardiac rehabilitation can save lives as it reduces deaths from heart disease by 27% at two to five years. (2)
"The first step is to provide investment and to set robust targets for access to cardiac rehabilitation in order to take forward the vision as outlined with the Cardiovascular Service Framework.
"Recovery for heart patients isn't over once discharged from hospital. It is about patients receiving the ongoing support and care needed to make the necessary changes to their life and get back on their feet again."
Andrew Dougal, NICHS Chief Executive said: "Cardiac rehabilitation is significantly more cost effective than in-patient hospital procedures and can cut unplanned hospital readmissions by up to 30%. (3) Cardiac rehabilitation costs around £600 per patient, this compares to bypass surgery which can cost up to £14,000."
"Millions of pounds are spent each year on cardiac surgery. This campaign is asking that some of that money is spent on this vital life-saving support service. This will ultimately save the NHS valuable resources.
"At a time when the Belfast Health & Social Care Trust is planning to close over 150 beds due to public spending cuts, serious consideration should be given to measures like this that will reduce the number of hospital admissions."
Not only does the campaign aim to address the failure to make referral to cardiac rehabilitation programmes a routine part of treatment for heart attack, angioplasty or coronary bypass patients, but it also calls for other heart conditions such as heart failure, angina and acute coronary syndrome to also have access to this invaluable service.
Additionally, the campaign will work towards addressing the inequalities in access to the service by under-represented groups such as women, ethnic minorities and those in deprived or remote communities.
For more information about the campaign please visit: www.bhf.org.uk or www.nichsa.com
