WIREDGOV

New project to identify irregular heart beat

A ground-breaking project to identify people with irregular heart-beats – one of the chief risk factors for Stroke – is being trialled in a Scottish Government-funded pilot.

Minister for Public Health, Maureen Watt, visited the Ashgrove Medical Practice in Blackburn, West Lothian, recently to see the scheme first hand.

The project seeks to identify people who have atrial fibrillation (AF), a hard-to-spot condition that causes an irregular heart-beat and can significantly increase the risk of stroke. Currently patients with atrial fibrillation are usually identified during routine pulse or blood pressure checks at their GP surgeries. There is no systematic method of spotting the condition that is used throughout Scotland.

The Atrial Fibrillation Project uses a hand-held heart monitor to easily and accurately monitor a patient’s heart beat, allowing the GP to spot the symptoms of AF. If diagnosed, patients can be advised of the symptoms of Stroke, make lifestyle changes to reduce the risks, or sometimes be treated with anticoagulant drugs.

The Scottish Government has provided £52,000 in funding towards the project, which is running in 20 GP practices across Lothian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Fife, Tayside and Grampian. It is being run collaboratively with the Scottish Centre for Telehealth.

The one-year pilot scheme will run up to July 2015 and then be evaluated before a decision is taken on a wider roll-out.

Last year the Scottish Government published a refreshed action plan for tackling heart disease, containing six priority areas. One of these priorities was improving prevention, treatment and care for people with irregular heartbeats.

Maureen Watt said:

“Atrial Fibrillation is a relatively minor condition, and most of the time the patient will be perfectly healthy and have no idea they have it. However, we need to identify those people because we know it can lead to irregular heartbeats and increase the risk of Stroke.

“We are keen to find a way to identify people with this condition, and this innovative pilot scheme is part of those efforts. With a simple hand-held device it should prove much easier to spot the symptoms, and GPs will then be able to give appropriate advice and treatment.

“Once complete, the project will be fully evaluated so we can decide whether to roll it out across the health service.”

Background

Atrial fibrillation affects around two per cent of the population, but is more common in the over 75 age group, or those with diabetes, high blood pressure or heart failure.

A person with the condition is five times more likely to have a stroke.

The ageing population is increasing the prevalence of atrial fibrillation.