New Heart Challenge For Hospitals
May 12th 2006
The NHS must come to terms with caring for thousands of adults with congenital heart disease, ministers warned today. As many as 135,000 adults suffer from congenital heart disease having survived childhood illnesses.
Hospitals must ensure these patients are seen by staff with the right expertise, the guidance states.
And it calls for improved transitional arrangements for patients moving from childhood for adulthood.
A department of health spokesman said: "Although many have complex conditions, they can expect to lead full lives with the right support."
Speaking at the Heart Hospital, London, health minister Rosie Winterton said: "To deliver the best possible service, and to ensure patients are treated by those clinicians with experience of their condition, we are concentrating expertise in a small number of specialist centres like this one at the Heart Hospital, and are developing care plans between these centres and more generalist locally based services."
She added: "Patients need a more cohesive service that recognises that congenital heart disease is a life long condition which can affect quality of life."
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