Improving Diagnosis of Atrial Fibrillation in Primary Care: Making an Impact on Stroke Prevention
What:
This project detects patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) that would have otherwise gone undetected. The diagnosis of AF enables a patient to receive interventions, such as warfarin, thereby preventing future stokes and Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA). To achieve this, the service conducts a 5-day ECG recording on patients that have been clinically diagnosed with either a high or low level TIA.
Why:
Prevalence of AF in Barnsley is above the national average. Evidence from other NHS Trusts suggests that extended ECG monitoring of up to 5-days as opposed to a 24-hour reading can increase the detection rate of AF by approximately 24% which could save people from a debilitating condition or potentially losing their life.
NICE Guidance for the management of AF states that it costs approximately £11,700 to treat a stroke survivor for one year after stroke occurrence compared to costs of £429 to treat a patient with warfarin for the same time period.
Impact:
From the introduction of this service in October 2010 to March 2011, 26 patients have been seen and of these 15% have been diagnosed with AF. It is anticipated that both the volume and detection of patients with AF will increase as this service begins to see more patients following a high risk TIA.
Lead Contact: Dr Pravin Jha, Consultant Physician, NHS Barnsley
01226 433 387 or Pravin.Jha@barnsleypct.nhs.uk
