Motion: Review of Specialist Heart Failure Nurse Services

Review of Specialist Heart Failure Nurse Services

Lodged by Dave Thompson Members' Business Motion 32 supporters

The motion

That the Parliament welcomes the publication of the Review of Specialist Heart Failure Nurse Services by the Scottish Heart Failure Nurse Forum supported by Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and the British Heart Foundation Scotland; understands that heart failure is a life-limiting condition for which there is no cure, that, unlike other cardiac conditions, its prevalence is rising and that it is estimated to affect up to 100,000 people in Scotland; considers that specialist heart failure nursing services reduce unnecessary hospitalisation for people with heart failure by around 35%, resulting in savings of around £1,826 per patient to the NHS; understands that NHS Highland meets the minimum Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines ratio of 1:100,000 specialist nurses per head of population and provides specialist support to nearly 300 patients per year, but, given that NHS Highland covers 41% of NHS Scotland's geographical area, travel times inevitably reduce the capacity of the service; considers that these pressures mean that there is limited capacity to deliver education and share skills and expertise with community staff to ensure that heart failure patients receive the support that they need; is concerned that, despite the strength of the evidence base, only four out of 14 NHS boards meet the minimum ratio of specialist heart failure nurses to population level laid out in SIGN guidelines from 2007, that the overall number of whole-time-equivalent posts in Scotland has fallen since 2008 despite the rising prevalence and that one board has no specialist heart failure nursing service in place at all, and notes calls for all NHS boards to ensure that, as a minimum, they meet the SIGN guidelines on whole-time-equivalent posts for what it sees as these crucial services.

Supporters (32)