The NHS is experiencing the “worst cardiac health crisis in living memory”, experts warned last night.
Early deaths from heart disease are at their highest level in more than a decade, figures have revealed.
Heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among people under 75 have been declining since the 1960s, thanks to sharp declines in smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthrough technologies such as stents and statins.
But now obesity, diabetes and undiagnosed hypertension are reversing 60 years of progress.
Long waiting times for tests and treatment are also taking a toll, as are the knock-on effects of the coronavirus pandemic and recent industrial action by health workers.
Figures reveal premature deaths from heart disease have reached their highest level in more than a decade (stock image)
The fight against the deadly disease appears to be over, with progress being made, according to data analyzed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Latest figures for 2022 show that 80 in 100,000 people in the UK will die from heart disease, the highest death rate since 2011, when 83 people died.
Heart-related deaths among people under 75 have increased for the third year in a row.
The BHF said this was a “clear reversal of almost 60 years of trends” and a sign that deaths from heart disease were on the rise again.
Dr Sonya Babu Narayan, Associate Medical Director and Consultant Cardiologist at the BHF, said: “We are facing the worst cardiac care crisis in living memory.”
“Every part of the system that delivers cardiac care, from prevention to diagnosis to treatment to recovery, is damaged. We will contribute to important research that can provide faster and better treatments.
“This is happening at a time when more people are getting sick and needing the NHS more than ever.
“I think it is a tragedy that hard-won progress in reducing premature deaths from cardiovascular disease has been lost.”
The BHF said that even before the rise in mortality rates began in 2019, the rate of improvement had slowed “significantly” since 2012.
Early death rates from cardiovascular disease in the UK were 33% between 2005 and 2012, but fell by just 11% between 2012 and 2019.
By 2022, more than 39,000 people will die prematurely from cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, coronary heart disease and stroke, an average of 750 people a week. This is the highest annual total since 2008.
Dr Babu Narayan said: ‘The increased pressure on the NHS in recent years and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic are likely to have contributed to worsening the situation, but the warning signs have been there for a long time. ” he added.
“Since 2010, decades of progress in reducing deaths from heart disease have stalled, and health disparities between rich and poor have widened significantly.
“People living in the most deprived areas of England are getting sicker and the incidence of some cardiovascular diseases is increasing.
BHF chief executive Dr Charmaine Griffiths said these figures painted a “heartbreaking picture” (stock image)
“Millions of people live with undiagnosed risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, and almost two-thirds of adults in the UK have a weight that would classify them as overweight or obese. This poses even more problems for the future.”
BHF chief executive Dr Charmaine Griffiths said the figures painted a “heartbreaking picture”.
She added: “For more than half a century, pioneering research and medical advances have made great strides toward reducing heart attack and stroke deaths.
But then too many people lost loved ones too soon to cardiovascular disease, and a lost decade of progress followed.
“We can stop this heartbreak, but only if politicians come together to address the preventable causes of heart disease. People in need of life-saving heart and stroke treatment and help accelerate scientific progress to unlock innovative new treatments and cures.”
Helen Williams, NHS England’s national adviser for cardiovascular disease prevention, said the NHS was “rolling out a range of prevention measures to help people take control of their health”.
“Thousands more people are now being helped to manage their symptoms more effectively than before the pandemic, reducing their chances of having a heart attack or stroke.”
We didn’t wait for an ambulance – Steve was dying!
A 55-year-old man who suffered a heart attack may have had his life saved by refusing to wait for an ambulance.
Steve Weir, a team manager at a pension company, was celebrating his wife Michelle’s birthday on January 9, 2022.
While his wife was recovering from COVID-19, Ware was taking a nap on the sofa at their home in Bristol when he began to feel waves of pain in his chest.
An hour passed before Michelle woke up and called 999 because she didn’t want to worry her. Mr Ware, a stepfather of three children, said: “The 911 caller told me I was priority, but they didn’t give me a deadline.” In case the ambulance comes.
“As soon as Michelle hung up, I felt a wave of excruciating chest pain that brought me to my knees.
Close call: Steve Weir, 55, pictured with his wife Michelle, went into cardiac arrest minutes after arriving at the hospital.
“At that point, Michelle said she wasn’t going to risk waiting for an ambulance and would drive me to Southmead Hospital in Bristol herself.
“The last thing I remember was struggling to walk to the hospital reception and collapsing into the first chair I saw.”
Mr Ware went into cardiac arrest just minutes after arriving at the hospital. A nurse later told him his heart had stopped for 19 seconds.
He was revived with CPR and defibrillation.
He was taken by ambulance to Bristol Heart Institute, where a stent was fitted.
Mr Ware, 54, said: “It was a Sunday so there wasn’t a lot of traffic.” Looking back, he is horrified to think what the outcome would have been if it had happened during rush hour on a weekday.
“Steve could have gone into cardiac arrest in the car. The story probably would have been very different then.”
She added: “After Steve had the stent fitted, we received no advice about his recovery and no cardiac rehabilitation was provided for months.” I was shocked at the lack of support.
“This huge event happened and Steve was on the verge of death, and right after that we just had to move on with our lives.”