Making Best Practice, Every Day Practice
The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF), together with the condition’s associated stroke and systemic thromboembolic risk, is increasing significantly. Fortunately, there are clear, evidence-based clinical guidelines and risk stratification tools, to ensure that patients can make informed choices about optimising their treatment and care.
In the first 15 months of its operation, Bradford’s Healthy Hearts campaign has significantly improved the cardiovascular health of local people, and saved an estimated £1.2 m for the clinical commissioning group.
Approaches to the prevention of cardiovascular disease should be tailored to each individual. But almost everyone will benefit from lifestyle interventions that have been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a significant cause of disability and death in the UK, and it is one of the conditions most strongly associated with health inequalities. We can help reduce the CVD burden by reminding our patients of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
GP practices have a central role in the prevention of stroke. This review assessed the adequacy of primary and secondary preventive interventions that were provided for patients who were on the stroke register between January 2009 to December 2012, in the six months before and after a stroke. Eight GP practices in a deprived locality of North London participated in the review.
This month’s Back to Basics feature is a wallchart to support this year’s seasonal flu vaccination programme.
The vaccine is offered free on the NHS to adults over the age of 18 at risk of flu (including everyone aged 65 and over), pregnant women and children aged six months to two years at risk of flu.
In general, deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD) are falling, except for the forgotten CVD, dementia. The rate of dementia is rising year on year and it is now one of the top 5 causes of death in the UK. Risk factors for dementia are similar to other CVDs and risk modification can reduce the risk of development of the condition.
The annual diabetic foot check plays a vital part in the support and education of people with diabetes. This can be performed easily and with minimal expense, but despite the NICE recommendation (NG19) that everyone with diabetes should have a foot check at least once a year, Diabetes UK reports that up to 400,000 people are not having this performed.
This Back to Basics feature is a wallchart describing the functions of a healthy liver – the largest organ in the body. It carries out more than 500 tasks essential for life. This wallchart accompanies details on the new NICE guideline on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Claire Bellone, clinical nurse specialist at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Trust, gives her personal view on how primary healthcare professionals can work with women with menopausal symptoms and implement the recommendations of the NICE guideline on the diagnosis and management of menopause.
A new case study shows the significant reduction in atrial fibrillation-related stroke incidence achieved using the GRASP-AF audit tool. The case study, highlights improvements in key measures including a 4% reduction in the number of patients treated inappropriately, a 5% increase in the use of oral anticoagulation therapy and a 10% reduction in AF-related strokes.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has a major impact on the health and quality of life of patients and there is often co-morbidity with cardiovascular disease. Well planned and structured training for the primary care team could have a major impact on outcomes.
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