Heart attack aftercare a 'lottery'

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A British Heart Foundation (BHF) study found vast discrepancies between the numbers of patients receiving cardiac rehabilitation after suffering a heart attack, or surgery, in areas across England and Wales.

Cardiac rehabilitation gives patients a 26% greater chance of surviving in the five years after their diagnosis, but in some areas just one in seven receives the treatment.

The treatment programme, costing £600 per patient, teaches patients how to manage their condition and make positive lifestyle changes as well as offering advice, support and counselling from medical professionals.

A "heart map" drawn up by the BHF using figures of those eligible for cardiac rehabilitation in April 2005 and March 2006 highlighted the startling differences.

While just 19% of patients under Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland strategic health authority (SHA) received cardiac rehabilitation, in the neighbouring SHA of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, 61% received the treatment.

South West London SHA had the lowest rate at 14%, while the highest level was in Greater Manchester with 73%. The percentage for North West London was also low at 24%, along with Kent and Medway, where just 27% of patients received treatment.

At the top end of the scale, 63% of patients under north and east Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire SHA received cardiac rehabilitation. In Dorset and Somerset that figure stood at 62%, and in Cheshire and Merseyside it was 61%. In Wales the figure was 41%.

Professor Bob Lewin, of the BHF Cardiac Care and Education Research Group, said a lack of funding and understanding about the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation had compounded the situation.

He said: "The problem is there is often nobody senior enough fighting for this. The programmes are normally developed by nurses or physiotherapists. Cardiac rehabilitation can also be seen as 'TLC'. There is not enough understanding that it saves lives."