MP says ‘know your pulse’

Jim Dobbin MP

Pulse check screening is a fast and efficient way to help detect potential cardiac arrhythmias. Early detection can literally help save lives.

MP for Heywood and Middleton, Jim Dobbin has lent his support to the ‘Know Your Pulse’ campaign to help raise awareness about heart rhythm disorders (cardiac arrhythmias) in the UK.

The campaign, spearheaded by the charity, Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA), aims to raise awareness of this debilitating condition and reach out to the public, parliamentarians and clinical experts.

At a Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons, Jim Dobbin was briefed by the AFA about Atrial Fibrillation.

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disturbance encountered by doctors. Department of Health, 2007 figures, suggested AF affected in excess of 600,000 people in the UK. This is now considered to be an under estimate and that a more accurate figure may now be in excess of one million, with 200,000 patients being newly diagnosed each year. It is also thought to be responsible for 18% - 20% of all strokes suffered in the UK.

The risk of developing AF rises sharply with advancing age, roughly doubling with each decade of age, from 0.5% of people aged between 50-59 years visiting their GP, rising to almost 9% for those aged 80 to 89.

The Parliamentary Reception, sponsored by Nadhim Zahawi, MP was well attended, with speeches from Professor Roger Boyle, National Director for Heart Disease and Stroke and Simon Burns, Minister of State for Health and MP for Chelmsford.

The event was also addressed by the founder of Arrhythmia Alliance, Trudie Lobban MBE. The reception was held to raise awareness of the ‘Know Your Pulse’ campaign amongst patients, professionals and parliamentarians and highlight the importance of innovative screening techniques such as pulse checks, which are low cost, high impact and easy to identify patients with potential cardiac arrhythmias (heart rhythm disorders).

Simple pulse checks with GPs are a quick, and low cost way of detecting arrhythmias. That is why the AFA are today calling on people who are worried they might be suffering from an arrhythmia to book a simple check up with their GP. The AFA are also calling for pulse checks to be made a routine procedure within the NHS Health Check programme and at seasonal flu vaccination clinics.

Jim Dobbin MP said: “It is astonishing to discover how many people in are affected by cardiac arrhythmias, and the possibility that many more have the condition but as yet have not been diagnosed. It is important that this condition is understood by medical professionals and patients so that they can be identified at an early stage and treated accordingly."

Trudie Lobban MBE, CEO and founder of the AFA said: “We are delighted that Jim Dobbin MP is supporting our campaign to raise awareness of arrhythmias, both in Westminster and in the wider context. This is a little-known condition, yet estimates suggest that arrhythmias exert a considerable economic toll on the NHS. For example, patients with primary or secondary diagnosis of AF accounted for an estimated 5.7 million bed days in 2008, at a cost to the NHS of £1.8 billion.”