New service can help patients to a better life
Caption: The five cardiac nurse specialists at Colchester General Hospital who provide the new heart failure service (left to right): Julie Vidler, Cora Hughes, Judith Payne, Karen Lake and Lynda Keating. They are photographed with Dr Allan Harkness, lead consultant cardiologist and clinical lead for heart failure.
22 November 2010
A new nurse-led service has been launched to help and support patients at Colchester General Hospital who have a diagnosis of heart failure.
It means that patients are being seen quicker than in the past when they had to wait for an appointment with the heart failure service provided in the community by NHS North East Essex (the PCT).
Heart failure is a serious condition which occurs when the heart is having trouble pumping enough blood around the body. This is usually because the heart muscle has become too weak or stiff to work properly.
The service at Colchester General Hospital is provided by a team of five cardiac nurse specialists, led by Lynda Keating.
It has been devised by Dr Allan Harkness, lead consultant cardiologist at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, who has worked with the British Heart Foundation for many years to improve heart failure services nationally.
Mrs Keating said: "We've already helped more than 200 patients since the heart failure service was established.
"Although heart failure is a serious condition, if a patient is on the right medication and leads a healthy lifestyle, they can control it and enjoy a good quality of life.
"The cardiac nurse specialists visit the patients on the wards and, on discharge, hand them over to the community team for follow up. In addition, we are exploring the possibility of setting up a heart failure clinic at the hospital, where patients will come to us as outpatients.
"We are participating in the national audit of heart failure and feedback from patients has been very good."
Mrs Keating said that with help from members of the heart failure team, who are all able to advise on medication and lifestyle, patients were able to control the effects of the condition.
Some patients who in the past would have become breathless even having a simple conversation are now able to lead fuller and more active lives. The new service aims to reduce the number of readmissions, she added.
The team will refer patients who smoke to stop smoking services, encourage them to exercise and ask dietitian colleagues to educate patients about the importance and benefit of a healthy diet. They also ensure they have appropriate follow up with the community team.
Heart failure is diagnosed by a non-invasive and painless ultrasound test called an echocardiogram or "echo" for short. This uses sound waves to display an image of the heart in motion.
The condition affects about 900,000 people in the UK. It tends to affect older people, and the average age of diagnosis is 76, although Mrs Keating's team has seen patients as young as 40.
It can be caused by a number of other conditions, such as high blood pressure or a heart attack, and is becoming more common as people live longer.
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