HEART FAILURE QUALITY & CLINICAL CARE PROGRAMME PROGRAMME LEAD: Prof. Ken McDonald Project Team Contact Details: Regina.Black@hse.ie/ 01 8131 863 Heart Failure (HF) is a major public health problem affecting more than 120,000 Irish people. HF essentially means the heart is not working well enough to meet the needs of the body and its prevalence continues to rise because of three major driving factors: The ageing population Improved survival post myocardial infarction Continuing difficulty managing cardio-metabolic diseases (obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes) in the general population The national Heart Failure Clinical Care Programme aims to reorganise the way HF patients are managed in our health service. Over the coming years a co-ordinated, multi-disciplinary and patient focused disease management programme will be rolled out nationally. While the initial focus of the work is on the creation of dedicated hospital centres where care and expertise in HF is concentrated, the majority of people with HF are managed in the community. Therefore, the programme requires an integrated approach with emphasis on care and support in the community. During 2011 services for the management of acute decompensated HF will be established in at least 12 hospitals. The programme will also work towards the development of a rapid access diagnostic service for new onset HF. The main programme aims/ objectives, scope and solution areas are as follows: AIM TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE OF PATIENTS OBJECTIVES Access Every patient with symptoms of heart failure is diagnosed correctly and without delay Quality Every patient with heart failure is managed within a structured programme Implement targeted programme to prevent heart failure Cost Reduce recurrent admissions by 1,000 with additional impact on de novo admissions Reduce length of stay saving 20,000 hospital days per year SOLUTION AREAS Provide ready access to patients on disease information Develop care pathways to facilitate patient triage Establish specialist hospital services for patients presenting with acute decompensated heart failure including programmatic post discharge follow up In the community, development of a rapid access diagnostic service for new onset heart failure