NHS is putting lives at risk by failing to roll out a simple £28 heart check

September 16, 2016

A third of hospitals do not offer patients the simple check for heart failure
The NTproBNP test has been available in the UK for almost 20 years
But a report by MPs and charities says many still arent offering it

Sophie Borland Health Editor For The Daily Mail

Published:
18:57 EST, 12 September 2016

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Updated:
19:21 EST, 12 September 2016

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Thousands of heart patients are being put at risk because the NHS is failing to roll out a £28 test, a report warns.

A third of hospitals do not offer patients the simple check for heart failure – six years after they were told to by a health watchdog.

The NTproBNP test has been available in the UK for almost 20 years and diagnoses heart failure by detecting certain hormones levels in the blood. If these are high, patients are referred to a cardiologist and immediately offered life-saving drugs or surgery.

The NTproBNP test has been available in the UK for almost 20 years and diagnoses heart failure by detecting certain hormones levels in the blood but a third of hospitals are not offering it

But a report by MPs and charities says many health trusts and hospitals have still not started offering it – or deem it too costly.

The All Parliamentary Group on Heart Disease today warns that the patchy provision of the basic test is costing lives.

Nearly one million Britons suffer from heart failure, which occurs when the heart is too weak to pump blood around the body.

Up to 40 per cent die within a year and the illness has worse survival rates than breast, prostate or bowel cancer.

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Today’s report warns that 38 per cent of patients are being misdiagnosed by GPs – even in areas where the test is available. Many were told they had asthma, a cough or even stress and said doctors failed to ask basic questions about their health or family history.

It also estimates that offering the test in all areas would save the NHS £3.8million a year. This is because too many patients are being diagnosed late at which point they need far costlier treatment or surgery.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said failings in diagnosis were ‘costing lives’.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said failings in diagnosis were ‘costing lives’

‘Not only does it have a high mortality, it’s very debilitating,’ he said. ‘If you don’t make the diagnosis, you don’t give people the right treatment, their quality of life will be adversely affected.

‘If you don’t diagnose and treat heart failure properly, with specialist cardiac input, your mortality will be adversely affected.’

The test costs an average of £28 per patient and first became available in Briton in the late 1990s.

And in 2010 the health watchdog NICE recommended that all GPs refer patients for tests if they have symptoms, such as tiredness or shortness of breath.

But six years on the report says it is not routinely provided by a third of hospitals and a third of clinical commissioning groups.

Professor Andrew Clark, consultant cardiologist at Hull University, who co-wrote the report, said some health trusts didn’t want to spend money on the test.