Sheffield experts launch life-saving heart project

It aims to boost the uptake of rehabilitation programmes for patients after they’ve had a heart attack, heart surgery or diagnosis of a heart condition in a bid to get them back on their feet with exercise, advice and support, as well as teaching them about the factors that could increase the risk of future heart problems.

Professor Des Breen, Medical Director of South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Integrated Care System said: “In South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw more than 1,000 people under the age of 75 die every year from Cardiovascular Disease, and it’s the second biggest contributor to the gap in life expectancy between our population and England. This is the single biggest area where we can save lives over the next ten years.”

Researchers from Northumbria, Sheffield Hallam, the British Heart Foundation and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals have met to understand which services people would prefer to receive and how they would like to receive them through a special questionaire given to 300 patients.

Currently, patients who have had a cardiac event are offered, in most parts of the UK, a ‘one size fits all’ rehabilitation package, but only 52 per cent of people actually use them, and in many areas the figure is much lower. The NHS long-term plan is to increase uptake of support from 52 per cent to 85 per cent in the next ten years.