AN ESTIMATED 160 heart attacks could be avoided over the next three years, national health chiefs have said.

Public Health England said that lives could be saved if health chiefs in Swindon, Wiltshire and Bath took a more joined up approach to heart care.

They want the new sustainability and transformation partnerships, which are made up of NHS and local council health bosses, to do more to tackle high blood pressure, cholesterol and atrial fibrillation – which increases the risk of stroke, heart attack and limb amputations.

Speaking at the NHS Expo conference in Manchester today, NHS England medical director Sir Bruce Keogh will say: “Cardiovascular disease kills more people in this country than anything else.

“We know how to treat the resulting heart attacks and stroke, but everyone knows that prevention is better than cure.

“Prevention of these devastating consequences is everybody’s business from our schools to the food and tobacco industries, to local authorities and the NHS.”

Public Health England and NHS England have written to all 44 sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) urging them to focus their efforts on preventing cardiovascular disease.

A draft of the Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire’s STP plan, published in December last year, speaks about “shifting the focus of care from treatment to prevention and proactive care”. Cardiovascular disease is not directly mentioned as a priority in the plan.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, said: “Scaling up cardiovascular disease prevention locally is a major part of reducing the overall burden on individuals, families and the NHS, and will help to ensure a person’s health is not defined by where they live.”

According to Public Health England, by improving treatment of those diagnosed with high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation has the potential to avert almost 30,000 strokes nationally over the next three years.

They want more STPs to support the NHS Right Care cardiovascular disease prevention programme across a wider area. The scheme sees more people being tested for things like high blood pressure in pharmacies, community centres and workplace, more self-monitoring and new online tools – including a test to check your “heart age”.

They say that such schemes could help prevent 240 strokes in patients with high blood pressure across Swindon, Bath and Wiltshire.

A spokeswoman for the B&NES, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), said: "We welcome the new drive to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The work will undoubtedly save thousands of lives by encouraging patients to take a more proactive approach to their health. 

“Knowing your blood pressure numbers, and if you are at risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke, will be a huge incentive for people who want to turn their health around.

“The health and care agencies within the BSW STP are working closely together to provide a co-ordinated approach to improving prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these life-threatening conditions.

“We have a number of initiatives in place which support the prevention agenda and will assist in the reduction of heart attacks and strokes. These include the diabetes prevention programme where GPs refer those who are identified as at high risk of developing diabetes on to a behaviour change programme, and the introduction of smoke-free NHS sites. 

“NHS Health Checks are offered to all eligible people between the ages of 40 and 74 every five years and these checks can help to identify undiagnosed high-risk conditions. But only half of those eligible take up the offer. We would advise more people to have a check, so that if they are at risk they can take practical steps and seek support to reduce their lifestyle risk factors, for example stopping smoking or losing weight.”