NEWS STORIES

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A recent joint publication by NHS England and endorsed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the GMC seeks to encourage NHS organisations to continue to look favourably on requests from doctors seeking support to undertake national or regional work for the wider benefit of the public and of health services across England and the devolved administrations.

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•  Engaging video illustrating normal and abnormal heart function
• 2 minutes 54 seconds of stylised imagery with voice over
• Available in English and 6 more languages and with closed captions: o Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu, Polish and Welsh
• Designed for use by anyone who needs to educate on heart function
• At least 1 million people are affected by heart failure in the UK[i] with a further 200,000 newly diagnosed each year
• 80% of heart failure is diagnosed in hospital, often as an emergency
• ‘Freedom from Failure’ – The F word’ and raise public awareness of the common symptoms of heart failure to motivate early seeking of medical advice to improve outcomes - The F Word is Failure #TheFWord #FreedomfromFailure
  

The British Society for Heart Failure (BSH), the professional association for heart failure care in the UK, is launching an animated video, just under 3 minutes in length, in English and 6 more languages for use by those who need to educate on heart function. Intended for health care professionals across healthcare settings, it is equally applicable for student use and for self-education.

Prof Ahmet Fuat, PCCS Education and Research Lead would like to draw your attention to the CHD Research Group at Newcastle University who are conducting an interview-based research study to understand how different groups of clinicians view our current outpatient-based care of adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD).

There are now major concerns being raised at the highest level over emerging data from different sources suggesting that the extraordinary circumstances over the past year associated with the pandemic has had significant adverse consequences for the care of our people with, or at risk of, cardiovascular disease and in particular hypertension. The need to take action urgently in relation to this has never been to so important and the PCCS has an important role to play in this.

On 14th May 2021, we held our half-day virtual meeting “Current Conversations in Cardiovascular Disease”, which covered controversies and debates within CVD management across a variety of focused topics. Each session welcomed a multidisciplinary panel of speakers and featured panel discussions, audience participation, and sharing of best practice.

With much sadness, we report the passing of John B Pittard, one of the founding council members of the original PCCS. Professor Terry McCormack reports here on his loss:

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the most common causes of death in England. It's associated with health inequalities, with higher premature death rates in more deprived areas. This report highlights progress made by the health and care system in implementing NICE guidance on CVD management.

Following a survey by the The Stroke Association showing that 25% of people don’t know their personal risk level of stroke, they're asking us to pledge to make one small change to help reduce the risk and help stop stroke from being the fourth biggest cause of death in the UK.

Kathryn E Griffith, Chair of Board of Trustees PCCS and Previous Clinical Lead for Kidney Care for the RCGP worked closely with Donal and reports here on his loss:

Bayer UK recognises that this is a critical time for everyone. We would like to reassure you that we are making every effort to support healthcare professionals, the NHS and patients through digital routes.

It will be self-evident to any cardiologist that many of our patients also suffer from diabetes and its complications. In the past care has tended to be silo specific with many cardiologists not paying a great deal of attention to the management of diabetes but this is changing with the development of drugs for diabetes that directly impact on cardiovascular outcomes.