Neil Johnson
CEO, Croí
Neil Johnson of Croí and Ciara Keane of the Heartbeat Trust discuss the symptoms of heart failure in Ireland. Then they talk about a new initiative which aims to give patients a louder voice.
If you were feeling breathless and tired, you wouldn’t necessarily think it was a problem with your heart. However, it could well be.
Heart failure is a condition where the heart is incapable of pumping blood for the normal requirements of the body; the predominant symptom is breathlessness, while other symptoms include swollen ankles and fatigue.
The risk factors are those common to other heart conditions. For example, people who have diabetes, or conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
It’s important to talk about what heart failure in Ireland is not
Heart failure can also come about following an infection or a heart attack. Over-65s are the population most at risk. “It’s important to talk about what heart failure is not,” says Neil Johnson, Chief Executive of Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiac Foundation. “It can be caused by a number of conditions including hypertension (high blood pressure), following a heart attack, coronary heart diseases and other health conditions, and over-65s are the population most at risk.”
Heart failure is a chronic condition which can be managed with a combination of interventions including diet, exercise, medications and patient self care.
Croí have recently joined forces with the Heartbeat Trust, a heart failure in Ireland charity, to launch a new initiative, the Heart Failure Patient Alliance, which aims to increase awareness of heart failure and provide a voice for patients.
There is a low awareness of the signs and symptoms of heart failure in Ireland.
Ciara Keane, Project Manager for research with the Heartbeat Trust, elaborates: “Because you don’t recognise your symptoms, you may not think heart failure, you may not even think to mention it to a doctor, and then you won’t be referred for a test. You might think these symptoms just go with aging, for example.”
Neil adds: “Heart failure can be difficult-to-diagnose because there are other co-morbidities. An echocardiogram is needed to determine diagnosis, and access to these is limited in some parts of the country.”
Ciara and Neil hope to raise awareness to the point where the general public and doctors will consider heart failure as a possibility whenever these symptoms are experienced.
A patient voice
The lack of awareness around heart failure is particularly problematic given that one in five of us will develop the condition in our lives. The condition is also the leading cause of admission to emergency departments. Across the EU, some 15 million people suffer from it.
“In Ireland previously there has been a patient voice behind heart failure,” says Ciara.
There is a low awareness of the signs and symptoms of heart failure in Ireland.
Neill adds: “There are many other conditions that don’t have the same prevalence yet have a stronger patient voice. There’s a real opportunity here to mobilise a united voice to improve care.”
Inaugural meetings for the Heart Failure Patient Alliance will take in April – in Dublin on the 15th and Galway on the 16th – where experts will speak about the condition, and about managing it; plenty of materials and advise will be available for patients and their carers.
“Ideally we would want to have patients from all Ireland over represented in the alliance,” says Ciara. “It’s important to convey it’s not just the two of us! We’re just the starting foundation for this to emerge as a national platform for patients.”
For more information, visit www.croi.ie or www.heartbeattrust.org
