Mr Shaun Robinson, Trustee and Ms Jo Sopala, Chief Executive Officer were delighted to represent the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE) at the 25in25 Summit in London on Thursday 9 March 2023.
The event brought together 45 top health organisations from the UK, Europe, US and Canada to agree the priorities for reducing deaths due to heart failure by 25% in the next 25 years.
Convened by the British Society for Heart Failure, the 25in25 Summit drew together those with a key role in diverting the course of the growing global heart failure epidemic. The importance of access to high quality echocardiography was a common thread in discussions, as was the need to prioritise the retention of all highly skilled specialists involved in the care of people living with heart failure.
Heart failure currently takes up 2% of the entire NHS budget. Importantly, the Summit ensured that the significant human cost was also articulated with powerful contributions from those living with heart failure.
In the UK, 80% of heart failure is diagnosed in hospital where 40% of people had symptoms that should have triggered an earlier assessment in primary care in the months prior1. Reducing deaths due to heart failure in the first year after diagnosis by 25% in the next 25 years, would mean 5 fewer deaths for every 100 newly diagnosed heart failure patients every year, translating to over 10,000 lives saved annually.
During the Summit attendees participated in a workshop to identify priorities and co create a practical roadmap to achieve the 25in25 goal through a Fast Track Community quality improvement Initiative (FTCI). All participants were also asked to sign the 25in25 Declaration, committing to work together to bring about the change required.
Ms Jo Sopala said, “Shaun and I were proud to be involved in this process and happy to sign the declaration on behalf of the BSE. Echocardiography can be pivotal in the early detection of heart failure and it is in everyone’s interests for us to work together to achieve greater access. It was reassuring to hear from other organisations that our drive to maintain the highest standards in echocardiography and retain and further develop our highly skilled workforce, were widely supported. Furthermore, it was widely agreed that effective triage of echocardiography referrals and reducing the number of appointments lost due to DNA is key to delivering a timely diagnosis for patients presenting with symptoms of heart failure.”
Learn more about the initiative
Reference
- NICE impact cardiovascular disease management [Accessed 28/02/2023]