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Content ArticleDespite advances in treatment, many patients with heart failure still experience delays in diagnosis, variation in care and avoidable hospital admissions. To support systems in addressing these challenges, the Health Innovation Network has developed a suite of practical guides designed to improve the heart failure pathway from early identification through to long-term management and end-of-life care. This resource set brings together two complementary guides: Heart Failure Blueprint for Healthcare Professionals A comprehensive overview of the optimal heart failure pathway, structured across seven stages from case finding and diagnosis to ongoing management and palliative care. It includes data, best practice examples, and innovations from across health systems to support pathway redesign. Improving the Heart Failure Pathway Through Quality Improvement: A How-To Guide A practical, step-by-step guide to help teams identify gaps, design solutions, and implement sustainable improvements using a structured quality improvement approach. These guides are designed to: Support earlier diagnosis and intervention. Improve coordination across primary, community and secondary care. Enable adoption of evidence-based treatments and innovations. Reduce avoidable admissions and improve patient outcomes. Provide a practical ‘playbook’ for local transformation. These resources are intended for multidisciplinary teams working across the pathway, including: Cardiologists, GPs and clinical leads. Nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals. Service managers and commissioners. Quality improvement and transformation leads. The guides can be used flexibly: As a complete programme to redesign your pathway end-to-end. To target specific challenges such as diagnosis or optimisation. As a facilitation tool for workshops and system-wide collaboration. Used together, they provide both the what (the blueprint) and the how (the improvement approach) to support meaningful and sustainable change.
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News ArticleMore than a million people with heart disease could be prescribed weight loss jabs on the NHS to prevent them from having heart attacks or strokes. Sold under the brand name Wegovy and made by Novo Nordisk, the weekly jab is a type of drug called a GLP-1 receptor agonist. It works by mimicking the natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion. The drug can be prescribed to lower blood sugar in people living with type 2 diabetes, but can also help people to lose weight and has been shown to work directly on the heart and blood vessels. Now the NHS’s spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), has given the green light to give semaglutide to overweight and obese patients living with certain heart and circulatory conditions. It is expected that 1.2 million people across England could benefit. Naveed Sattar, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow, said the move was a “genuine win–win” that will improve patients’ quality of life. “We now have medicines that not only reduce heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral arterial disease, but also simultaneously lead to meaningful weight loss – which in turn lowers the risk of many weight‑related conditions,” Prof Sattar said. “Given that so many people living with cardiovascular disease also struggle with excess weight, it’s no longer sufficient to focus solely on lipids and blood pressure. We must also address weight directly if we want to deliver the best possible outcomes for our patients,” he added. Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 April 2026
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News ArticleA stethoscope that uses artificial intelligence could help doctors detect serious heart valve disease years earlier, potentially saving thousands of lives, a new study suggests. It is estimated that 41 million people worldwide, including 1.5 million people in the UK, live with a type of heart valve disease, which can lead to heart failure, hospital admissions and death. Early diagnosis is vital for successful treatment, but the condition can be symptom-free in its early stages before causing dizziness, shortness of breath and heart palpitations, which can be confused with other conditions, meaning some patients do not get a diagnosis until the disease is advanced. Currently, diagnosis of valve disease relies on echocardiography, a type of ultrasound scan that is expensive and time-consuming. While doctors do listen to the heart using a stethoscope, this is not routinely done in short GP appointments, and is known to miss many cases. But the new technology that works with digital stethoscopes was found to outperform GPs at detecting valve disease, and could be used as a rapid screening tool. “Valve disease is a silent epidemic,” said Professor Anurag Agarwal from Cambridge’s department of engineering, who led the research. “An estimated 300,000 people in the UK have severe aortic stenosis alone, and around a third don’t know it. By the time symptoms appear, outcomes can be worse than for many cancers.” For the study published in the journal npj Cardiovascular Health, researchers analysed heart sounds from nearly 1,800 patients using an AI algorithm trained to recognise valve disease. The AI was found to correctly identify 98% cent of patients with severe aortic stenosis, the most common form of valve disease requiring surgery, and 94% cent of those with severe mitral regurgitation, where the heart valve does not fully close and blood leaks backwards across the valve. Read full story Source: The Independent, 10 February 2026
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Content ArticleCardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels, including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other arterial and aortic diseases. The British Heart Foundation estimates that there are approximately 6.4 million people in England living with CVD (as at September 2024). In 2022, CVD contributed to a quarter of deaths in England. Local authorities have a statutory duty to commission NHS Health Checks – used to help prevent CVD – for their local eligible population. While DHSC provides funding to local authorities for Health Checks through the public health grant, and retains policy responsibility, local authorities. This report examines the effectiveness of the government‘s approach to identifying, preventing and managing CVD in England. It sets out: levels and trends in CVD in England the role of primary care in detecting and preventing CVD commissioning, delivery and performance on Health Checks wider public health work on preventing CVD.
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Content ArticleDespite significant progress in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy and interventional strategies, cardiovascular disease (CVD), in particular ischaemic heart disease, remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women in the UK and worldwide. Women are underdiagnosed, undertreated and under-represented in clinical trials directed at management strategies for CVD, making their results less applicable to this subset. Women have additional sex-specific risk factors that put them at higher risk of future cardiovascular events. Psychosocial risk factors, socioeconomic deprivation and environmental factors have an augmented impact on women’s cardiovascular health, highlighting the need for a holistic approach to care that considers risk factors specifically related to female biology alongside the traditional risk factors. Importantly, in the UK, even in the context of a National Health Service, there exist significant regional variations in age-standardised mortality rates among patients with CVD. Given most CVDs are preventable, concerted efforts are necessary to address the unmet needs and ensure parity of care for women with CVD. The present consensus document, put together by the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS)’s affiliated societies, specifically portrays the current status on the sex-related differences in the diagnosis and treatment of each of the major CVD areas and proposes strategies to overcome the barriers in accessing diagnoses and treatments among women. This document aims at raising awareness of the scale of the current problem and hopes to stimulate a multifaceted approach to address sex disparities and enable future comprehensive sex- and gender-based research through collaboration across different affiliated societies within the BCS.
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News Article
British hospitals introduce treatment for heart failure that cuts deaths by 62%
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People in Britain with heart failure are being given larger doses of drugs at the start of their treatment after a global study found that this led to a huge fall in deaths. Experts say the new approach could mean those with the potentially fatal condition start receiving their ideal amount of medication within two weeks of diagnosis rather than after many months. Evidence from other countries that have already used the treatment found it cut deaths from heart failure by 62% and lowered their risk of ending up back in hospital by 30%. St George’s hospital in London and Morriston hospital in Swansea have begun treating patients with the innovative method, which those involved say “is a total gamechanger” for the condition. Clinical staff likened the approach – known as “rapid titration” – to how cancer patients are given a full dose of chemotherapy medication from the start of their treatment to improve their chances of recovery. “Heart failure is a silent killer, so this new way of treating patients is a total gamechanger that I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. It will save many lives and bring hope to so many families,” said Matthew Sunter, the lead heart failure nurse at St George’s. “In days gone by, we would start patients on a very low dose and increase it by very small doses. It could take nine to 12 months to reach the optimal dose. “Strong-HF has allowed us to think completely differently. For the first time ever, we offer patients a review one week after discharge and we can catch them before they get sick enough to need to come back into hospital. “And we can get them on to the recommended therapy for their heart failure within two to three weeks instead of nine to 12 months.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025 -
Content ArticleThe early use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) improves outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). This study in the journal Heart investigated AED access across Great Britain according to socioeconomic deprivation. The authors found that in England and Scotland, there are differences in distances to the nearest 24/7 accessible AED between the most and least deprived communities. They concluded that equitable access to ‘out-of-hours’ accessible AEDs may improve outcomes for people with OHCA.
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Content ArticleThis study in the Journal of Medical Virology aimed to assess the extent and the disparity in excess acute myocardial infarction (AMI)-associated mortality during the pandemic, focusing on the outbreak of the Omicron strain. Using data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Vital Statistics System, the authors found that excess death, defined as the difference between the observed and the predicted mortality rates, was most pronounced for the 25–44 years age group. Excess deaths ranged from 23%–34% for the youngest compared to 13%–18% for the oldest age groups. The trend of mortality suggests that age and sex disparities have persisted even through the Omicron surge, with excess AMI-associated mortality being most pronounced in younger-aged adults.
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Content ArticlePublicly available data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) shows a persistently high number of excess deaths involving cardiovascular disease (CVD) in England since the beginning of the pandemic. This analysis of by the British Heart Foundation looks at this situation in more detail. Key findings As of June 2023, there have been nearly 100,000 excess deaths in England involving CVD since the beginning of the pandemic. On average, there have been over 500 additional deaths a week involving CVD since the pandemic began. While deaths from Covid-19 have fallen year-on-year since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of deaths involving CVD have remained high above expected levels. Excess deaths involving CVD outnumber those involving all other individual disease areas since the beginning of the pandemic in England. In light of these findings, the British Heart Foundation is calling on the Government to: make NHS heart care a priority. improve prevention of heart disease and stroke. invest in research for treatments and cures.
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Content ArticleThe major conditions strategy is a national framework being developed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). It will focus on six major groups of conditions: cancers cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and diabetes chronic respiratory diseases dementia mental ill health musculoskeletal disorders This briefing by NHS Confederation examines how the upcoming major conditions strategy can set the conditions to prevent, treat and manage multimorbidity in England. Key points NHS leaders have identified key levers that the major conditions strategy can use to maximise its impact on healthy life expectancy and reduce inequalities. These fall under three categories: create a healthy society, make the most of existing infrastructure and policy and implementation. The major conditions strategy will allow health services to evolve from a single-disease approach to a multimorbidity approach, which will match how patients need to use the service. Integrated care systems will provide vital infrastructure for the sharing of data, integration of services and creation of a patient-centred approach to health and care provision. A health service designed around multimorbidity would be a step-change for patients and requires a series of shifts to be made in both focus and provision.
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Content ArticleCommunity public access defibrillators (CPADs) contain an automated electronic device (AED) that, in the event of a sudden out of hospital cardiac arrest, can provide lifesaving treatment by delivering an electric shock to the heart. CPADs can be found in public areas such as disused telephone boxes or community centres, and often the defibrillators are locked and a special code is needed to open the unit. In this blog, Sharon Perkins, HSIB Maternity Investigator, looks at the issues surrounding the accessibility of CPADs. During the course of a maternity investigation, the HSIB team became aware of instances where access to CPADs had been restricted by their location and lack of registration.
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Content Article
The National Vascular Registry (NVR) has published a report on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on vascular surgery in the UK, presenting key findings from NVR data throughout 2020 and 2021. NVR previously reported on data as at 25 September 2020, which showed that Covid-19 infection in patients undergoing vascular surgical procedures significantly increased the risk of respiratory complications and mortality. Here, they update this analysis, using data through to the end of 2021, and explore whether the Covid-19 vaccination programme provided protection to patients against this life-threatening complication. One finding is that, between March 2020 and Dec 2021, confirmed postoperative Covid-19 diagnoses were most common among non-elective procedures, ranging from 18.4% (non-elective AAA repair) to 27.5% (major lower limb amputation). For elective procedures, the reported rates of confirmed postoperative Covid-19 diagnoses were lower, ranging from 1.6% (elective AAA repair) to 4.1% (lower-limb bypass). Other key findings include: There was only a modest rise during the first Covid-19 wave (Mar-Jun 2020) with a larger rise during the second wave (Nov 2020-Feb 2021) There was a different pattern for respiratory complications after surgery, with higher rates observed in both wave 1 and wave 2 The period from March to December 2021 was associated with rates of respiratory complications and in-hospital postoperative mortality returning to levels observed pre-pandemic in 2019 Overall, the report concludes that the vaccination programme had a modest benefit to patients in reducing the risk of respiratory complications, and therefore carries a public health message relevant for both national and international audiences. -
Content ArticleThe Covid-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on the detection and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors including hypertension. In June 2022, nearly two million fewer people with hypertension were recorded as being treated to target, compared with the previous year. As a result, NHS England commissioned the AHSN Network to deliver a new national Blood Pressure Optimisation (BPO) programme building on its portfolio of work around cardiovascular disease. This report lays out: evidence about the impact of the BPO programme how it has been received by frontline staff how it has been implemented nationally.
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News ArticleArtificial intelligence could be used to predict if a person is at risk of having a heart attack up to 10 years in the future, a study has found. The technology could save thousands of lives while improving treatment for almost half of patients, researchers at the University of Oxford said. The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), looked at how AI might improve the accuracy of cardiac CT scans, which are used to detect blockages or narrowing in the arteries. Prof Charalambos Antoniades, chair of cardiovascular medicine at the BHF and director of the acute multidisciplinary imaging and interventional centre at Oxford, said: “Our study found that some patients presenting in hospital with chest pain – who are often reassured and sent back home – are at high risk of having a heart attack in the next decade, even in the absence of any sign of disease in their heart arteries. “Here we demonstrated that providing an accurate picture of risk to clinicians can alter, and potentially improve, the course of treatment for many heart patients.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 November 2023
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News ArticleA 25-year-old who died from a heart haemorrhage after being diagnosed with a panic attack had been seen by a non-medical school trained physician associate (PA) but not a doctor, it has emerged. Ben Peters, 25, attended the emergency department at Manchester Royal Infirmary on the morning of 11 Nov 2022 with chest pain, arm ache, a sore throat and shortness of breath. While waiting, he endured a “severe episode of vomiting”. Peters was diagnosed with a panic attack and gastric inflammation by the PA and sent home with two medications, after a supervising consultant, who the coroner found never reviewed the patient in person, agreed with the diagnosis. Less than 24 hours later, Peters died from a rare complication of the heart that had resulted in a tear of the heart’s major artery, known as aortic dissection, and led to a fatal haemorrhage. The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust (TADCT) says around 2,000 people in Britain die from the condition each year, which can be “reliably diagnosed or excluded” using a CT scan, but “misdiagnosis affects one-third of patients”. A prevention of future deaths notice issued by Chris Morris, the area coroner for Greater Manchester South, written to Manchester University Foundation Trust, said: “It is a matter of concern that despite the patient’s reported symptoms, in view of his age and extensive family history of cardiac problems, Mr Peters was discharged from the Ambulatory Care Unit without being examined or reviewed in person by a doctor." Read full story Source: The Telegraph, 21 October 2023
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News Article
Wait-and-see policy on heart devices puts lives at risk, says UK charity
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients are needlessly being put at risk of dying from heart problems because they have to wait months to be fitted with lifesaving implantable defibrillators, experts have said. Two million people in the UK live with coronary heart disease, which is a leading cause of heart failure. Those at the highest risk of dying as a result of heart failure may be offered an implantable cardioverter defibrillator device (ICD). These can kickstart the heart and may save their life. Patients have to wait at least 90 days before they can be fitted with an ICD while doctors wait to see if stents and medication might improve their health. However, a large study funded by the British Heart Foundation suggests there is little or no benefit to waiting, and the charity says lives are needlessly being put at risk as a result. Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, an associate medical director at the BHF, said the results had significant implications. “The findings suggest that the current ‘wait and see’ approach to find out whether a patient’s heart function improves with medication and stents isn’t always best, and that an unnecessary wait could even be the difference between life and death,” she said. “The results from this large UK-wide trial could lead to re-evaluation of how best to treat people living with severe heart failure due to coronary heart disease.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 11 September 2023 -
News Article
A public defibrillator may be a mile away in deprived areas
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
In the most deprived areas of England and Scotland, the nearest 24/7 accessible defibrillator is on average a round trip of 1.8 km away—over a mile—according to a pioneering study supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The researchers, led by Dr Chris Wilkinson, senior lecturer in cardiology at Hull York Medical School, used data from national defibrillator network The Circuit to calculate the median road distance to a defibrillator with unrestricted public access across Great Britain's 1.7 million postcodes. Among the 78,425 defibrillator locations included, the median distance from the centre of a postcode to a 24/7 public access defibrillator was 726.1 metres – 0.45 miles. In England and Scotland, the more deprived an area was, the farther its average distance from a 24/7-accessible defibrillator – on average 99 metres more in England, and 317 metres farther in Scotland for people living in the most compared with the least deprived areas. There was no link between defibrillator location and deprivation in Wales. The researchers said they hoped the findings, presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Amsterdam and published in the journal Heart, would lead to more equal access to defibrillators. They noted that there were over 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) annually in the UK; in England nearly 30% happened at weekends, and 40% between 6pm and 6am. Read full story Read research study: Automated external defibrillator location and socioeconomic deprivation in Great Britain (28 August 2023) Source: Medscape, 29 August 2023 -
News Article
Targeted screening of diabetic patients ‘could double heart condition diagnoses’
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Targeted screening of patients with type 2 diabetes could more than double new diagnoses of heart conditions, a study suggests. When applied at a larger scale, such an approach could translate into tens of thousands of new diagnoses, researchers believe. Conditions such as coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and heart failure affect millions of people worldwide, causing a large number of deaths and increasing healthcare costs. Treatments are available that can prevent stroke or acute heart failure, but systematic screening is not currently common practice. Those living with conditions such as type 2 diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties – are at high risk of such conditions. A team of researchers led by Dr Amy Groenewegen, from the University Medical Centre Utrecht in the Netherlands, has developed a three-step screening process to detect conditions in high-risk people at an early stage. Study author Dr Groenewegen said: “An easy-to-implement strategy more than doubled the number of new diagnoses of heart failure, atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease in high-risk patients.” Read full story Source: Independent, 29 August 2023 -
News Article
Government reports on 'overdue' major conditions strategy
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
The Government must provide the health service with more support to fulfil its ambition of extending healthy life expectancy and reducing premature death, an expert has warned. It comes after the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) published an interim report on its Major Conditions Strategy, a 5-year blueprint to help manage six disease groups more effectively and tackle health inequality. The groups are cancer, cardiovascular disease – including stroke and diabetes – musculoskeletal conditions, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health conditions and dementia. The Government said the illnesses "account for over 60% of ill health and early death in England", while patients with two or more conditions account for about 50% of hospital admissions, outpatient visits, and primary care consultations. By 2035, two-thirds of adults over 65 are expected to be living with two or more conditions, while 17% could have four or more. Sally Gainsbury, Nuffield Trust senior policy analyst, said the Government is right to focus on the six conditions, but "will need to shift more of its focus towards primary prevention, early diagnosis, and symptom management". She added: "What's less clear is how Government will support health and care systems to do this in the context of severe pressures on staff and other resources, as well as a political culture that tends to place far more focus on what happens inside hospitals than what happens in community healthcare services, GP practices and pharmacies. This initiative is both long overdue and its emphasis has shifted over time. The Major Conditions Strategy is being developed in place of a White Paper on health inequalities originally promised over 18 months ago." Read full story Source: Medscape, 16 August 2023 -
Content ArticleEuropean guidelines advise that patients suffering ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) should be revascularised within 120 minutes of diagnosis. The preferred method of revascularization is primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). This study in BMJ Heart analysed the Northern Irish STEMI database to establish the proportion of pPCI delivered within the recommended treatment window. It aimed to determine whether there was any difference in long-term survival for patients treated beyond the recommended time window. The authors found that delays that result in primary PCI beyond 120 minutes from diagnostic ECG are associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality following STEMI in Northern Ireland.
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Content ArticleThis WHO report includes six case studies from 12 individuals with lived experience of diverse health conditions. These case studies explore the topics of power dynamics and power reorientation towards individuals with lived experience; informed decision-making and health literacy; community engagement across broader health networks and health systems; lived experience as evidence and expertise; exclusion and the importance of involving groups that are marginalized; and advocacy and human rights. It is the first publication in the WHO Intention to action series, which aims to enhance the limited evidence base on the impact of meaningful engagement and address the lack of standardized approaches on how to operationalise meaningful engagement. The Intention to action series aims to do this by providing a platform from which individuals with lived experience, and organisational and institutional champions, can share solutions, challenges and promising practices related to this cross-cutting agenda.
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Content Article
NICE decision aid: Should I take a statin?
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Heart conditions
This decision aid from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) can help you if you are thinking about taking a statin. It is for people who do not already have heart disease and have not had a stroke. You can use it to help you to talk about your options with your healthcare professional (such as your doctor, pharmacist or nurse). -
Content ArticleIn this presentation from the AD Awareness Day UK 2018, Dr Emma Redfern and Prof Mark Callaway provide a Masterclass in diagnosing aortic dissection in the emergency setting.
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Content Article
Help raise awareness of Aortic Dissection. Download a free poster, leaflet and screensaver from the THINK AORTA campaign and use them in hospital Emergency Departments, Radiology Departments, Ambulance Stations - anywhere healthcare professionals who might see an Aortic Dissection patient can be found. -
Content ArticleThe CVDPREVENT Audit has published its third annual audit report covering the audit period up to March 2022. The report provides insight into the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary care services, when diagnosis and management of hypertension were significantly disrupted. It also compares the national position against key ambitions identified as milestones for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the detection and management of atrial fibrillation, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also includes findings relating to diagnoses of chronic kidney disease and diabetes, lifestyle and health inequalities, as well as a number of recommendations to support the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Key findings The prevalence of cardiovascular disease in adults in England was 6.0%. The prevalence increased with age and males were more likely than females to have the disease Prescription of anticoagulation drug therapy, for those with AF at high-risk of stroke, increased by one percentage point since March 2021 to 88.9% in March 2022 Nearly 20% of people with CVD did not have a recorded current prescription of lipid lowering therapy (secondary prevention).
