New service improvement project will help identify patients with an underlying heart condition

Ambulance clinicians can come across patients with conditions they are unaware of and are often different to the reason they called the ambulance.  One of these conditions is an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation (AF).  

Having AF increases a person’s long-term risk of having a stroke, but the risk can be reduced with medication.  By communicating this to a patient’s GP, it can be followed up and appropriate medication can be started if needed. 

The project, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation and in partnership with Hull York Medical School, will monitor patients over a 12 month period. 

Starting on 10 July, ambulance clinicians will complete their medical documentation as normal, but information will then automatically be sent to the patient’s GP to say AF has been detected in a patient. Although this information is routinely shared, the new process will highlight the condition to allow a GP to follow-up with a patient more effectively.   

Research paramedic, Laura Blair said: “We hope that this process will improve detection of risk factors for stroke, ultimately reducing the number of people having strokes.   

“Over 139,700 of our patients are treated at home every year, without needing to be taken to hospital. By highlighting this condition with a GP earlier, it could result in a patient needing less medical treatment in future.    

“Previous work written by some of the project team and published in the British Paramedic Journal showed that as many as two people per day in the NEAS catchment appear to have AF detected by ambulance clinicians.” 

The researchers will compare information about patients before and after this new process starts, to see how this new process is affecting a patient. As well as looking at data from patients who did not have a GP letter sent, they will compare information from the previous year. 

The patients whose information is shared in this new way will be aware of this process.  Relevant research approvals will be applied for, to access other comparator patient information.   

Dr Chris Wilkinson, consultant cardiologist at James Cook University Hospital and one of the chief investigators for this project, will be working with NEAS as part of this work. He said “Stroke can be devastating but is often preventable through identifying and treating underlying risk factors like atrial fibrillation.  This British Heart Foundation funded project will help ensure that atrial fibrillation is appropriately treated to reduce the risk of stroke.” 

Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Atrial fibrillation is an important risk factor for stroke but, if spotted early, we have effective treatments that can reduce that risk. This interesting project could produce real improvements for patients, improving communication between the ambulance service and doctors to keep more people out of hospital. 

“At the British Heart Foundation we are excited to be supporting projects like this, which aim to harness technology to improve healthcare and prevent people experiencing heart and circulatory conditions in the future.” 

This project will last for 12 months and is funded by the British Heart Foundation and is in partnership with Hull York Medical School.