33,000 deaths ‘linked to failings in NHS heart attack care’
33,000 deaths ‘linked to failings in NHS heart attack care’
“Thousands of heart victims killed by poor care,” claims the Daily Mail.
A review of clinical data from the last 10 years in England and Wales looked at patients with a history of what are known as non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) heart attacks.
NSTEMIs describe a class of heart attack that are serious enough to warrant hospitalisation, but don’t pose as big a threat as typical heart attacks.
Data from almost 390,000 people who had an NSTEMI was included in the review. It found around 87% of patients did not receive one or more internationally agreed recommended interventions.
It has been estimated that if all patients had received all of the interventions recommended to them, 32,765 (28.9%) deaths may have been prevented over the 10-year period.
But an important consideration is that some of the interventions consisted of lifestyle advice, such as quitting smoking or changing diet. This means we cannot assume that all the people given such advice after a heart attack would follow it.
These findings are also limited by the possibility that data was missing or had been recorded incorrectly. The design of the study is not able to prove cause and effect, and there are a number of other factors beyond the recommended interventions that may have had an effect on survival.
The data is certainly worth considering – one preventable death is one too many – but it doesn’t prove that “thousands of heart victims [were] killed by poor care”, as reported by the media.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from a number of institutions, including the University of Leeds and University College London.
Funding was provided by the British Heart Foundation and the National Institute for Health Research.
It was published in the peer-reviewed European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care.
This study has been reported widely in the UK. And, while these reports have been accurate, none mention the inherent limitations of the study.
The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph both quote Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, who said: “This study shows that many people in the UK are receiving suboptimal care after a heart attack and that lives are being lost as a consequence.
“Applying clinical guidelines in heart disease costs little, and in the long term saves money and, most importantly, saves lives.”
Read more here: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/05May/Pages/33000-deaths-linked-to-failings-in-NHS-heart-attack-care.aspx
