Telford Healthy Hearts campaign hailed a success
Representatives from the Telford Healthy Hearts team were invited to present a poster sharing the success of their campaign at the cardiovascular disease prevention conference in London.
The Telford Healthy Hearts programme was launched by Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group on Valentine’s Day last year to improve the health of people with existing heart disease and those at risk of developing heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease is responsible for more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK.
That's an average of 460 people each day, or one death every three minutes.
Health professionals across Telford and Wrekin worked together to identify patients with existing heart disease and those at risk of heart disease who were either not prescribed a statin or not prescribed the drug/dose recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Statins are one of the most effective ways of helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people who are at risk.
They work by lowering cholesterol levels, preventing the narrowing and hardening of the arteries.
Patients were then sent a letter explaining what they need to do to either get a prescription for a statin or to get their treatment adjusted.
Lifestyle advice
They were also offered lifestyle advice to help reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Jacqui Seaton, deputy executive for primary care and medicines management, said: “Compared to May 2018, 2,888 more patients in Telford and Wrekin are now taking statins, that’s a 14 per cent increase, while 72 per cent are taking the dose recommended by NICE, compared to 51 per cent in May 2018.
“We’re really proud of the progress we've seen as a result of the Telford Healthy Hearts programme.
"We’ve taken a proactive approach to ensure that our population has access to evidence based treatment and we believe that this will save lives and help to reduce the number of people who go on to have a heart attack or stroke in years to come."
More information about cardiovascular disease is available at www.nhs.uk/conditions/cardiovascular-disease
For more on the Telford Healthy Hearts programme visit telfordccg.nhs.uk/your-health/telford-healthy-hearts
For help with giving up smoking, losing weight and getting more exercise call the healthy lifestyle team on 01952 382582 or email healthylifestyles@telford.gov.uk
