NHS saves 500 extra lives as heart failure survival rate rises
HUNDREDS more patients are surviving heart failure thanks to major improvements in NHS care, an independent audit has found.
An extra 500 lives were saved last year compared to 2015 as a result of earlier diagnosis and better treatment.
Despite the success, researchers from University College london are warning that death rates from heart failure are still far too high.
Approximately 9 per cent of patients admitted to hospital with heart failure die and the report says this is unacceptable.
Heart failure is a devastating condition in which the heart becomes too weak to pump blood around the body.
It affects almost one million Britons and commonly occurs after a heart attack or as a result of high blood pressure. Since 2010 the health watchdog NICE has issued a series of guidelines for hospital doctors and GPs aimed at improving detection rates and treatment.
The audit which was commissioned by the NHS looked at 66,695 patients suspected of having heart failure who were admitted to hospital from April 2015 to April 2016. Some 8.9 per cent died in hospital, down from 9.6 per cent in 2014-15.
The authors calculated that the reduction in mortality was equivalent to 500 lives being saved that year.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘ This audit shows promising signs that the quality of hospital care for heart failure is improving.
‘However, we need to build on this progress. It is imperative we continue to close variations in heart failure care across hospitals and ensure more patients receive the best possible treatments.’
Sir Bruce Keogh, National Medical Director at NHS England, said: ‘ The NHS is helping more people to survive heart failure. This independent study shows that improvements to NHS heart failure services have had a significant impact for people suffering this devastating condition.
‘It is a very significant problem and we recognise that there is scope for even more improvement but the progress highlighted today will be a spur for us to do even more to improve care and survival rates.’