AUK-wide survey of emergency emissions has concluded that care for female heart failure patients lags behind that offered for men. The study, published in Heart journal, examined 9,500 admissions and found that women were less likely to receive recommended investigations such as ultrasound scans or drug treatment such as beta blockers. They were also less likely to be given treatment to prevent worsening of their symptoms when they left hospital.
Female heart problems receive inferior care
One explanation put forward is a perception that women are less likely to have heart problems or, if they do, that they are less serious. Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) commented: “Too many older people – especially older women – are slipping through the net. Women tend to develop heart failure later than men, which may explain why their passage through the health service is different. However, medical decisions based primarily on gender or age and not on clinical effectiveness have no place in a 21st century NHS.”
