Treatment for heart patients rated fair

Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton patients diagnosed with heart failure are getting a fair deal from the health service, a progress report released today, 6 June has shown, but in comparison with other communities across England, Rochdale and Heywood and Middleton rank in the bottom third for treatment and diagnosis of the condition, according to the Healthcare Commission report.

Health staff could be failing to identify other people with heart problems, either due to poor record keeping, or a lack of access to a diagnosis, meaning they are missing out on treatment.

The commission is urging doctors and health staff to monitor the number of patients they are dealing with to make sure they identify the gaps.

Called Pushing the Boundaries, the report looks at statistics from 2005-6 from 303 communities in England.

In Rochdale’s case, this meant the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trusts, which include Rochdale Infirmary.

The commission said there had been very positive progress since the last report two years ago. It looked at four categories: efficient diagnosis, treatment, care, education and support after diagnosis, if hospital cases and deaths went down and if patients’ experiences improved.

Two thirds of the country was rated as good or excellent, but Rochdale was in the bottom third, graded overall as fair, meeting minimum standards and what the public and patients could reasonably expect after gaining an overall review score of two out of four.

Rochdale was given a score of two in all four of the categories, not falling below minimum requirements but not going beyond them either.

Anna Walker, the commission’s chief executive, said: “Heart failure costs the NHS £625 million a year. It is the cause of 5 per cent of hospital emergency admissions, and readmissions are among the highest for any chronic condition.”