NHS targets over-40s at heart risk

Published on Wednesday 28 April 2010 23:03

THE NHS in Scotland will have to identify and treat people at risk of heart disease under new standards published by watchdogs.

Health boards have been given strict instructions to target those at risk to prevent the killer disease.

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has set out clinical standards, which place a mandatory obligations on boards to give patients the highest level of care.

Those behind the new guidelines said, if adopted, they would significantly reduce deaths and illness caused by heart disease, which kills 10,000 people in Scotland every year.

The UK has some of the highest rates of heart disease in Western Europe, with levels in Scotland even higher.

As well as prevention, the new standards set out the treatment to be given to those at risk.

Standards on prevention require the monitoring of blood pressure on the over-forties every five years and identifying those at-risk, such as smokers and the disadvantaged.

Those found to be at risk should be given treatment to reduce blood pressure, or drugs to reduce cholesterol before it causes cardiac problems.

Dr Martin Denvir, from NHS QIS, said setting standards for people at risk of heart disease was an important step forward.

"We thought this was a great opportunity to set a standard for that," he said. "This lays it down in terms that should be readily understood by the wider community as to what people can expect from their primary healthcare provider."

Dr Denvir said another key factor would be targeting people from deprived areas.

"Those people are more likely to get heart disease and more likely to die from it," he said. Dr Denvir said it was hoped that, within the next two years, people aged over 40 would be invited to their GP surgery for health assessment as part of a co-ordinated programme.

At an SNP conference earlier this year, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced her intention to roll out health checks for the over-forties.

Dr Denvir added: "I would fully expect that if we implement the majority of these standards across all of the boards in Scotland, we would see a significant reduction in mortality from heart disease and a significant reduction in morbidity – the suffering of patients and their admission to hospital."

Checks on health boards to see if they are following the standards will start within six months, he said. "We are saying they are mandatory," he added. "We fully expect health boards to deliver these standards."

Where standards are not met, boards will be monitored to make sure improvements are being made, Dr Denvir said.

Campaigners welcomed the move. Marjory Burns, director of the British Heart Foundation Scotland, said: "For the first time, will have a focus on stopping people getting heart disease.

"This means there is now a wide range of standards from preventing heart disease in people at high risk right through to ensuring quality of palliative care for the dying."