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Defibrillator machines could be installed at airports and railway stations in a bid to further cut heart deaths under a new action plan.

The Scottish Government's new Better Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action Plan, which forms part of its national quality strategy announced last week, has improving people's health before problems develop at its core.

The comprehensive strategy details the measures NHS Scotland will take, ranging from encouraging patients to adopt healthier lifestyles to improving cardiac and stroke treatment and longer-term care, and boosting staff skills.

NHS Scotland is on track to meet targets to reduce premature death from heart disease by 60 per cent and stroke by 50 per cent by 2010, compared to 1995 levels.

The plan proposes a range of methods to further reduce heart disease and stroke deaths, such as:

• Promoting awareness of symptoms so that people treat stroke as a 'brain attack', on a par with a heart attack
• Getting more people into stroke units to improve survival rates
• Tackling inherited heart conditions which can carry a risk of sudden death, especially in young people
• Improving cardiac rehabilitation services, for example by holding more local gym sessions for recovering patients, as well as 'at risk' people who may not have suffered a heart attack
• Making greater use of telemedicine, so people get more rapid access to treatment wherever they live, such as medication to dissolve the clots that cause heart attacks and strokes
• A greater focus on heart failure - thought to affect around 100,000 people in Scotland - including improved access to palliative care

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said:

"The big reductions we have seen in recent years in heart disease and stroke deaths show that, to a large extent, these are preventable diseases.

"But our progress is in danger of levelling out if we don't raise our game.

"While NHS treatment continues to improve, factors such as smoking, alcohol misuse and obesity remain a threat and we must do all we can to tackle them.

"This ambitious plan, containing nearly 70 specific action points around prevention, treatment and long term support, means we can build on our achievements in a way that confronts head-on the challenges we face."

Marjory Burns, Chief Executive of British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland, said:

"We congratulate the Scottish Government for producing such a comprehensive Action Plan and for ensuring that the voice of organisations like BHF Scotland and, most importantly, heart patients themselves have been heard throughout the consultation process.

"We are particularly pleased to see strong commitments in the Action Plan to extend the provision of cardiac rehabilitation, something that BHF Scotland has long campaigned for."

David Clark, Chief Executive of Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, said:

"Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland were heavily involved in the first CHD and Stroke Strategy, launched in 2002. This produced major improvements in the treatment of heart disease and stroke, particularly in acute services, where Scotland now has some of the best services in the UK.

"We have seen death rates from heart disease and stroke drop by nearly half in the last ten years.

"This new strategy provides an excellent opportunity to take this to the next stage by improving the quality of life for people who survive heart disease and strokes."

Maddy Halliday, Scotland Director for the Stroke Association, said:

"The Stroke Association warmly welcomes the new Heart Disease and Stroke Care Action Plan. We are particularly pleased that the Action Plan addresses all aspects of stroke, from primary prevention, emergency response, acute treatment, rehabilitation and longer term care.

"The Action Plan's emphasis on rehabilitation and recovery is very positive, as the quality of life for stroke survivors can be significantly improved if they receive effective rehabilitation and ongoing support once discharged from hospital."

In May 2008 the Scottish Government launched Scotland's Future is Smoke-free, a Smoking Prevention Action Plan with £42 million available over three years to support a wide-ranging tobacco control programme. Measures to restrict the display of tobacco in shops are now being taken forward in the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill.

In March 2009 the Scottish Government published its Alcohol Framework, which outlines measures to tackle alcohol misuse, backed by a record investment of over £120 million in alcohol treatment services over three years.

Healthy Eating, Active Living was published in June 2008. This action plan outlines commitments to invest £56 million in initiatives aimed at supporting people to make healthier choices.

Earlier this month, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland published its Coronary Heart Disease Improvement Management Programme, designed to deliver sustainable, patient-centred improvements in services.

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