A drastic lack of cardiac care is putting heart patients lives at risk, according to a new study, released today by the British Heart Foundation (BHF)

Lack of cardiac care 'putting heart patients lives at risk'
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"Only 40 per cent of patients receive rehabilitation after a heart attack or heart surgery, the research shows, despite a Government target to offer it to 85 per cent of them.

Staff shortages mean those who do receive the care get just one third of the recommended hours of physiotherapy.

The report, released today by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) failed to find a single cardiac rehabilitation programme in Britain with the minimum recommended number of staff.

Studies have shown that patients who do not receive cardiac rehabilitation are 26 per cent more likely than those who do to die within five years.

Mike Knapton, director of prevention and care at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Cardiac rehabilitation saves lives but the majority of patients don't get the service.""

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Associated health conditions

Squabbling consultant surgeons have been compromising cardiac care at the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust hospital.

Surgery unit hobbled by rows between consultants - Independent

Extracts:

"A heart surgery unit with the highest death rate in the country failed to examine why patients were dying, did not tailor systems to cater for high-risk patients and was hobbled by disputes among consultant surgeons, an investigation has found.

In a scathing report with echoes of the Bristol children's heart surgery disaster of the 1990s, the Healthcare Commission, the NHS inspectorate, criticises the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust for failing to review the performance of its cardiac care unit and ensure it provided safe and effective care to heart patients over a period of almost a decade.

The investigation is the latest into the unit which was once one of the premier centres in Britain, which pioneered the use of motorised hearts under the leadership of the surgeon Stephen Westaby.

Mr Westaby clashed with another of the surgeons, Ravi Pillai, plunging the unit into disarray. The number of heart operations fell by a third and an inquiry by the NHS South East Regional Office, published in 2000, concluded that the unit was "on its knees" and "riven by internal conflict"."

"Nigel Ellis, the head of investigations at the Healthcare Commission, said: " We are critical of the trust for failing to respond to the previous reports. They have looked at the criticisms and, rather than reflect on their clinical practice, they have complained the data is inaccurate."

Mr Ellis said the findings echoed the Bristol children's heart surgery disaster in the 1990s, which revolutionised the regulation of the medical profession and led to the creation of the Healthcare Commission.

He said: "The whole point of collecting data is to use it to understand what happened ­ which [the Oxford Radcliffe Trust] failed to do. In that respect alone, their failure to reflect on their practice is similar to what happened in Bristol. The surgeons are not working together as a team ­ they need to agree a common way forward and they need to be led by the management of the trust." "

Police to review case of fatal calcium dose given to baby, Abbie Hattam, daughter of Dawn and Jason Hattam, from Truro, Cornwall

Police to review case of fatal calcium dose given to baby

Extract:

"Police will re-examine the case of an under-pressure medic accused of giving a fatal dose of calcium to a baby girl, after an inquest jury decided she had been unlawfully killed.

Five-month-old twin Abbie Hattam died following heart surgery during which she was said to have been given 10 times the normal dose of calcium by Richard Downes, a medic at Bristol Children's hospital.

During the inquest it was claimed that Mr Downes' department was under-staffed and he argued with the surgeon before the operation because he wanted it cancelled. But Mr Downes refused to give evidence at the inquest, to the dismay of Abbie's parents, Dawn and Jason Hattam, from Truro, Cornwall."

It seems very wrong that this medic is allowed to refuse to give evidence, doesn't it? - Should it not be a condition of employment that health professionals give evidence, when required to, at an inquest into the death of a patient whose care was their responsibility?