People with heart failure are being better diagnosed and treated than they were three years ago, according to the results of the National Heart Failure Audit.
However, the report shows that overall mortality at one year is still poor, at 30%, while there are sharp differences in the quality of care that patients receive – with access to the key therapies recommended by NICE frequently dependent on the type of ward to which patients are admitted. The outcome for patients admitted to a cardiology ward were significantly better than those admitted to general medicine – even after correction for differences such as age, sex, symptoms and treatment. Patients on a cardiology ward were more likely to be on one of five key treatments recommended by NICE. They were also more likely to survive, with mortality rates in cardiology wards of 22%, compared to 36% on a general medicine or 41% on other wards.
