Disjointed and unequal care, likely to have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is leading to more people being diagnosed late and dying with heart failure in the UK, according to a new report from the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
The report reveals that prior to lockdown, UK hospital admissions for heart failure had risen by nearly a third over the last five years to more than 100,000 per year.
Research found that 80 per cent of people with heart failure are diagnosed in hospital, even though 40 per cent visited their GP in the previous five years with symptoms such as breathlessness, swollen ankles and exhaustion. The COVID-19 pandemic has likely intensified late diagnosis of heart failure, said the BHF.
The number of echocardiograms conducted in England fell by 67 per cent in April and May 2020 compared with February 2020, with a continued reduction of 40 per cent into June 2020, whereas hospital admissions due to heart failure decreased by 66 per cent by the end of April 2020 in England compared with the previous year, the BHF noted.
“We are concerned that many people with heart failure have fallen through the cracks of the NHS since lockdown began, adding to the picture of disrupted and fragmented care,” said the BHF.
The BHF 'blueprint for change' report makes recommendations to improve diagnosis and treatment of heart failure, including increased access to diagnostics in primary care and specialist care, as well as:
- Improving awareness of heart failure as a long-term condition amongst health care professionals so they can better recognise, diagnose and manage the condition.
- Using data to drive improvements in heart failure care, including an urgent need to identify the effect COVID-19 has had on heart failure patients.
- Finding 'heart failure champions' amongst health care workers at a national and local level to drive improvements in services that support patients from diagnosis to end-of-life.
This article originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
