Heart failure hospital admissions rise by a third

The number of people being admitted to hospital due to heart failure has risen by a third in the last five years, according to the British Heart Foundation.

Heart failure admissions have reached record levels in England, rising from 65,025 in 2013/14 to 86,474 in 2018/19, representing a 33 per cent increase. The charity says that this is three times as fast as all other hospital admissions, which have risen by 11 per cent in the same period.

It is estimated that approximately 920,000 people have the condition and it’s placing a greater burden on the health service than the four most common cancers combined. With heart failure patients staying in hospital for around 10 days – double the average of five days for all diagnoses – this is putting immense pressure on the NHS.

Research also suggests that nearly eight in 10 people with heart failure are diagnosed after a hospital admission, even though four in 10 had visited their GP in the previous five years with symptoms such as breathlessness, swollen ankles and exhaustion.

The British Heart Foundation warns that the figures highlight the significant challenge this currently incurable condition poses to the NHS, and says improved ways of detecting, diagnosing and managing heart failure are urgently needed along with more innovative models of care. Therefore, the charity has also called for greater access to specialist blood tests and heart scans for GPs to help diagnose heart failure earlier.

Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director of the BHF, said: “Heart failure poses a growing and increasingly complex challenge, not only for people living with the condition, but for those who care for them too. It’s concerning to see yet another increase in hospital admissions – an indication that how we diagnose, treat and care for these patients could be far better.  

“There is no cure for heart failure, but with access to the right services and support, people can go on to have a good quality of life for many years. We need to find new and improved ways of delivering this care, including in communities rather than hospitals. Doing so will improve thousands of lives and relieve the unsustainable pressure that heart failure is putting on our health service.”