WAR ON HEART DEATHS
Blood tests in chemists and GP waiting rooms as 7 million go undiagnosed
MILLIONS are to be offered checks at GP surgeries and pharmacies in an NHS drive to prevent heart disease and early deaths.
The strategy aims to raise dramatically the detection of ‘silent killer’ conditions including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and irregular heartbeats. Seven million adults in the UK are thought to have at least one of these disorders that has never been diagnosed or treated – leaving them at higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, dementia or sudden death.
Now, NHS england has ordered local health authorities to ensure they identify those at risk and get them the correct treatment, which may include statins. Under the
blueprint, doctors will be urged to install blood pressure machines and heart rate monitors in waiting rooms so patients can test themselves.
GP surgeries will also be expected to trawl their lists to identify patients who may have a potentially fatal irregular heartbeat – atrial fibrillation – so they can come in for tests.
High street pharmacies will be expected to play a role by providing free blood pressure checks on request. They will also join GPs in offering pin-prick blood tests to diagnose high cholesterol, for which statins are usually prescribed.
The measures – designed to prevent thousands of deaths a year – will be backed by hard-hitting campaigns on Facebook and local radio, telling adults to get their blood pressure and cholesterol checked.
Dr Matt Kearney, director for cardiovascular disease prevention at NHS England, said: ‘We could prevent hundreds of strokes and heart attacks if we improved identification and treatment of these conditions – at least hundreds, potentially a lot more.
‘People are often walking around undiagnosed … There are proven treatments for these conditions and they’re all very effective. What’s common to these conditions is they generally don’t have any symptoms.’
Heart disease, including heart attacks and strokes, is the second biggest killer in the UK after cancer and claims 160,000 lives a year.
But doctors behind the scheme say thousands of these deaths could be prevented by detecting more patients who have the underlying problems.
They also suspect many people previously told that they have high blood pressure or high cholesterol are on the wrong medication or none at all.
As part of the strategy, letters will go out to these patients suggesting they start taking statins or other medication, or up their dose.
Pharmacies and GP surgeries will be encouraged to display adverts urging patients to come in and get their cholesterol and blood pressure checked at the same time.
cholesterol can be checked with a simple test. A doctor, nurse or pharmacist pricks the patient’s finger and drips the blood on to a paper strip, which is fed into an electronic device. This gives a reading in less than ten minutes.
Patients will normally have to book in advance and may have to pay £10-15 if at a high street chemist such as Boots or lloyds Pharmacy.
if diagnosed with high cholesterol or high blood pressure, patients will be told to see their GP, who may decide to prescribe medication.
The scheme – the NHS right-care cardiovascular Disease Prevention Pathway – is being rolled out across the 209 clinical commissioning groups in England. So far, it has been introduced in 84 CCGS, in two waves, since being published in September. The remaining areas are expected to take it up within the next two years.
it is being overseen by a team of doctors, nurses and senior managers in NHS England who advise CCGS on policies that are likely to work best for their populations.
Dr Kearney said cardiovascular disease was a big issue for the NHS as it is responsible for a quarter of all ‘premature’ deaths – those before the age of 75. ‘ it’s also really expensive for the NHS. it costs £7billion a year,’ he added.
‘it’s only going to get worse. We’ve got an ageing population … an obesity epidemic and a diabetes epidemic. All of that is going to drive a rise in strokes, heart attacks and vascular dementia.’
Several CCGS have launched their own successful strategies and these are being championed by NHS England.
They include Bradford, which launched a major public awareness campaign in 2015 encouraging patients to check their blood pressure.
Adverts appeared on Facebook, Twitter and local radio stations and the public were invited to heart disease education events at church halls and community centres.
The Bradford Healthy Hearts scheme is estimated to have prevented 211 heart attacks and strokes in its first year.
if the other CCGS in England managed to prevent even half this number, more than 20,000 heart attacks and strokes would be avoided annually.
NHS England figures show approximately 6.75million adults have undiagnosed high cholesterol and 5million have undiagnosed high blood pressure. Some half a million have undetected atrial fibrillation.
Many of these patients have more than one of the conditions so it is hard to say how many in total are undiagnosed. But Dr Kearney said a ‘conservative’ estimate was at least 6.75million patients.
High blood pressure and high cholesterol are strongly linked to vascular dementia, the second most common type after Alzheimer’s disease.
The British Heart Foundation’s Dr Mike Knapton said better detection and treatment of the three conditions ‘will reduce the burden of disease on individuals, their families and the NHS’.
‘Reduce burden of disease’