Getting to the heart of it
February 4, 2013
HEART attack victims are being
failed by Australian’s health system,
according to the George Institute
for Global Health and the Heart
Foundation.
The comments follow a report
published this month in The
Medical Journal of Australia which
outlines five key reforms needed to
reduce the alarming number of
Australians who have repeat heart
attacks.
The report is the result of a
national summit of 30 key
organisations from government
agencies to health professionals
and heart attack survivors who met
to address the issue of secondary
prevention in this country.
Currently half of all heart attacks
in Australia are not the first, with
thousands of Aussies dying from
repeat events every year.
The report also found that the
total cost of repeat heart attacks
exceeds $8.4 billion annually, over
half the total acute coronary
disease cost burden.
“The health system is failing heart
attack survivors even though
secondary prevention strategies
including taking medicines and
leading a healthy lifestyle can reduce
death and future heart attacks,”
said report co-author Julie Redfern.
To remedy the problem, the report
outlines a five point plan for
reform, with the first
recommendation being the
development and implementation
of a national approach to
secondary heart attack prevention,
by providing a clear path for
patients as well as a structured
initial assessment and plan
development following a heart
attack, ongoing support for
modifying risk factors and long
term follow up and reassessments.
The second point calls for a
bridging of the gap between
hospital and primary care by
implementing a case management
approach that is recognised by
Medicare and enables coordination
between specialist, GP and allied
health services and greater
education on secondary prevention,
behaviour change techniques and
self-management strategies.
The report also calls for increased
awareness and utilisation of
existing services by patients via a
web based national inventory of
secondary prevention services,
along with the development of a
system for establishing
performance measures to facilitate
clinical practice improvement.
Lastly, it urges the implementation
of a communication strategy to
keep key stakeholders informed.
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