Patients in the South of England are set to benefit from a new heart failure service that will launch later this year, the NHS has announced.
The news comes from East and North Hertfordshire where there are currently more than 4,000 people registered with heart failure, although local leaders say this figure could be closer to 7,000 in reality.
To combat this, East and North Hertfordshire Health and Care Partnership – which comprises partners from the health, social and voluntary sectors – has developed a new integrated heart failure service.
Clinicians will be able to monitor patients closer to home which will boost earlier detection, diagnosis and management. The service also means patients will be able to access a consultant cardiologist in addition to specialist heart failure nurses.
“This exciting and innovative new model will revolutionise the way we identify, diagnose, and manage heart failure,” said Justin Daniels, consultant paediatrician and medical director at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. “Ultimately it will lead to improved clinical outcomes for our patients and enable treatment closer to home.”
The specialist nurses will care for patients in their own home, giving them a more relaxed and familiar environment. The new service will also benefit from direct access to the echocardiogram pathway at New QEII Hospital’s community diagnostic centre.
Clinical director of Broxbourne Alliance Primary Care Network, Dr Alison Jackson, added: “Experience of managing heart failure within Primary Care Networks, and from what we know about the population health data, shows how effective a heart failure service will be in East and North Hertfordshire.
“This is an opportunity to do things differently by joining up the different skillsets of all providers in a coordinated way, which delivers care closer to home and will hopefully improve patient outcomes.”
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