Breaking Down Barriers Faced by CVD Patients
A patient only becomes a patient once they have received a diagnosis, it is only then that they can embark on an appropriate care pathway. But before diagnosis, there is a person with concerns and unanswered questions about their symptoms, concerns which are often heightened after consulting with ‘Dr Google’, which for many is their first port of call. This means that the first barrier they face is easy access to accurate and reliable information for diagnosis.
We need to raise more awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD) amongst the public. This can be done on a global scale, such as during World Heart Rhythm Week which occurs annually in June. People experiencing symptoms who are informed can actively seek help to detect, diagnose, protect, and potentially correct CVD as early as possible, leading to better long-term outcomes.
Having consulted with a primary care physician, the length of time it takes to receive a CVD diagnosis varies considerably from area to area. This is due to the range and often sparsity of awareness of CVD conditions amongst GPs. Primary care teams need to be more aware of symptoms and how, whom and when they should refer.
To help combat this, as suggested in the ABHI Cardiovascular Group’s Health Check Report, training should be offered to all healthcare professionals, including primary care, by Royal Colleges and Clinical Societies. With the pandemic causing an increase in pressures and delays, it is more important now than ever to embrace digital technology and remote monitoring for detection and diagnosis and to refer patients to specialist centres – this will limit the number of lives lost unnecessarily.
After receiving a diagnosis, whilst an appropriate care plan to best manage the condition should be implemented, the patient (and their families) may need more immediate support to help come to terms with their new diagnosis. Knowing ‘what is wrong’ does alleviate some of the worries, but it also confirms that there is an issue, and so brings a wave of new questions, anxiety, and mental well-being. This is where professional patient groups can be a trusted resource to provide support, information, education, and awareness to those who are recently diagnosed or undergoing treatment, signposting by healthcare professionals to these organisations early is vital.
In addition, at Arrhythmia Alliance we provide support to arrhythmia patients at any point in their journey, whether they are newly diagnosed or have been managing their condition for a while, via our helpline, email, online forums and our wealth of medically approved patient resources and videos.
The recommendation in the Health Check Report that “a national scheme should be developed to expedite the use of multidisciplinary teams and clinician ‘buddy systems’ across the service” would further improve both the crucial timely diagnosis and condition management stages along every aspect of the patient pathway.
To summarise, CVD patients face different challenges throughout their journey, however there are steps that can be taken to better inform patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals to speed up and improve processes, to save lives and to improve outcomes for all.
Trudie Lobban, MBE, Founder & CEO at Arrhythmia Alliance