Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke

Too many people are still living with undetected, high-risk conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AF), high blood pressure and raised cholesterol.

Heart Disease Improvement plan 2014 Scotland

The improvement plan outlines 6 areas for improvement and an assessment against progress is required and focused activity.

Heart disease improvement plan areas:

Priority 1: Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

• Target case finding strategies for people at high risk of CVD

Priority 2: Mental Health for Heart Disease

• Develop a mental health pathway for patients with heart disease
• Deliver level 1 & 2 psychological support training

Priority 3: Secondary and Tertiary Care Cardiology

• Improved patient-centred flow into, through, between and out of hospital for patients with chest pain
• Develop local and regional pathways including strategy for cardiac investigation and intervention
• Develop clear diagnostic and treatment pathway for patients with valvular disease

Priority 4: Heart Disease Management and Rehabilitation

• Modernisation of cardiac rehabilitation services
• Develop anticipatory care programmes for patients with heart disease
• Develop condition and wellbeing self-management programmes for patients with heart disease

Priority 5: Heart Failure

• Improve identification, diagnosis and long-term management of patients with heart failure
• Improve patient centred flow into, through, between and out of hospital
• Develop palliative care pathway for patients with heart failure

Priority 6: Arrhythmias

• Improve identification, diagnosis and long-term management of patients with atrial fibrillation
• Improve patient centred flow into, through, between and out of hospital
• Develop pathways for the identification and treatment of patients at risk of familial arrhythmia conditions

There is also room for improvement in how we manage stroke patients as demonstrated by the national audit on care for stroke. Whilst we face specific geographical issues in terms of transferring patients for some aspects of care, there are many other aspects of stroke management that we can address locally.