Heart failure patients to be treated closer to home

A new clinic to treat heart failure patients closer to home has opened.

The nurse-led centre opened at Cromer Hospital, Norfolk, on Wednesday.

It allows staff to assess patients, review and prescribe medications and organise iron infusions without patients having to travel to Norwich.

Lucie Legg, a heart failure lead nurse specialist, said it would also free up capacity at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), which was introducing an extra clinic in the coming weeks.

"I am grateful for the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity for funding this clinic, and Cromer Hospital for accommodating the expansion of service to be able to see more patients, working towards reducing the number of patients that require an admission to hospital," she added.

The charity awarded a grant of £107,000 to run the new clinic for 23 months.

John Paul Garside, director of the charity, said: "This initiative is all thanks to the generosity of our donors and supporters and we will be gathering feedback on the new clinic in the hope that it can continue after the initial two years."

The NNUH said its heart failure service was expanding to meet the needs of a rising number of patients.

It added that one in seven people over the age of 70 would be diagnosed with heart failure - and with a high proportion of older people in Norfolk, the team was seeing more patients.

Kristian Skinner, a consultant cardiologist who specialises in heart failure, said the service was going through a "very busy" period.

"We've currently got two of our nurses going through their prescriber training. Once qualified, they will be able to run more nurse-led services to optimise patients' medication," he added.

"These developments will benefit patients and the trust overall, because the quicker you can get patients on the right medication, the less chance they have of being admitted, which is better for everyone."

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