Clinicians call for emergency and heart services reform

Two leading clinicians in the UK have this week published reports arguing the need for reform of emergency care services, including those dealing with heart attacks and strokes. The reports claim that traditional accident and emergency (A&E) wards are not the sole option to deal with such situations.

Professor Roger Boyle and Sir George Alberti, national clinical directors for heart disease and stroke and emergency care respectively, have published reports that also outline recent improvements to patient care they have experienced in their work.

Sir George Alberti said: “Care for emergencies is good and indeed there has been a transformation in A&E departments over the last five years. But there is increasing specialisation and we need to ensure that people are seen quickly by an experienced doctor or health professional.”

He added that some A&E departments are not able to provide the level of specialisation that is deserved by the public, meaning that a change in services is necessary to deliver a high quality of care when needed.

In September, figures published by the Department of Health showed that mortality figures for those suffering from cardiovascular disease had reduced by 35.9 per cent since 1996.