THE 24,000 people in Limerick who are living with cardiovascular disease (CVD) urgently need a new heath policy to provide treatment, supports, and raise awareness.
That’s the mission for an Oireachtas Heart and Stroke group backing urgent calls for a new national CVD health policy.
10,000 lives a year are claimed by CVD, Ireland’s biggest killer, accounting for almost 30 per cent of all mortality.
In Limerick, 24,000 people live with the disease, which causes a wide range of heart conditions.
Nationally, 80,000 CVD patients are discharged home every year – or one every seven minutes.
But despite the enormous toll of death and infirmity, Ireland has not had a CVD disease policy for over five years.
The new group, set up by the Irish Heart Foundation, aims to build consensus across the political spectrum to support these “abandoned” patients – and thereby deliver huge reductions in preventable death and disability.
“The absence of a policy framework for the prevention, detection, and treatment of CVD, along with services that maximise patients’ health and wellbeing in the community, is preventing the development of lifesaving services,” said Chris Macey, director of advocacy with the charity.
“This is resulting in preventable death, disability, and loss of quality of life on a significant scale.
“Cardiovascular care has been operating in a policy vacuum for the last five and a half years since the previous National Cardiovascular Health Policy expired.”
Ireland, he said, has the lowest number of cardiologists per capita in the EU and there is a critical need for investment in cardiac imaging, including echocardiography, cardiac CT, and cardiac MRI.
In addition, for those discharged from hospital, access to cardiac and stroke rehabilitation remains inadequate, Mr Macey said, with patients struggling due to the high costs associated with having a CVD condition and the widespread absence of psychological support to deal with the trauma of having a stroke, heart attack, or other heart disease diagnosis.
Limerick Independent Ireland TD Richard O’Donoghue is one of those says he will put his shoulder to the wheel with the group to advocate for heart disease and stroke patients.
As well as the need for the fresh CVD policy, the Irish Heart Foundation is also asking the Oireachtas Heart and Stroke group to support action to increase awareness and prevention and to ensure stroke survivors are admitted to dedicated stroke units, which reduce death and severe disability and greater investment in cardiac rehabilitation programmes.
