6:46am Saturday 4th August 2007
By Mikarla Marsden
LIVING in Essex could prove bad for your health according to a new report from the British Heart Foundation.
The foundation believes that if you live in the county and suffer a heart attack, you may not get the follow-up care which is crucial to survival.
In fact, their research shows that on average, just one in three Essex heart patients will receive the cardiac rehabilitation they need.
Prof Bob Lewin, of the foundation's cardiac care and education research Group, said getting the necessary rehab could help save lives.
He said: "Heart and circulatory disease is the UK's biggest killer. But with cardiac rehabilitation, many of those lives can be saved, and the quality of life for heart patients can improve dramatically."
Figures released by the Heart Foundation show that of the 4,404 Essex residents eligible for rehab from April 2005 to March 2006, just 1,525 or 35 per cent actually got the treatment they needed.
The foundation is outraged that more people aren't getting the treatment they need, which they estimate costs just £600 per patient and gives those recovering from a heart attack or heart operation a 26 per cent better chance of survival.
It's a similar picture across the UK, with the organisation claiming that three in five heart patients who need rehab don't have access to it.
Jean Davis, a cardiac rehabilitation sister at Basildon Hospital, said rehab was the key to recovery.
She said statistics show it reduces the risk of dying after a heart attack or heart operation by 20-25 per cent.
Mrs Davis said: "People also suffer anxiety and depression after having a heart attack, which can be put at ease by rehab. It can really help physically and emotionally."
She explained there were three initial phases of rehab now which include explaining a diagnosis, answering questions and discussing lifestyle modification.
This is then followed up with more answers to questions; then patients undergo a short course where they are taught about exercise, relaxation, stress, diet and physiotherapy. It helps people get back to normal life and regain their confidence."
Mrs Davis said more specialist rehab staff had been employed to work at Basildon Hospital's newly opened Cardiothoracic Centre, which she believed would give Essex patients greater access to rehab.
She said they were in the process of moving from the hospital into a new dedicated rehab gym within the centre.
The British Heart Foun-dation has now launched a campaign to call for better availability and quality of treatment.
They want cardiac rehab offered to every suitable heart patient and they also want patients to have the option of home-based rehab if preferred to group or hospital programmess.
CASE STUDY: Sex advice was all I got
BRYAN Amery knows more than anyone the value of help following a heart attack - even though he never received it himself.
Mr Amery, 70, was given one piece of advice when checking out of hospital following a heart attack almost 30 years ago - he was told to refrain from sex for six weeks.
Mr Amery said: "As you can imagine that wasn't at the forefront of my mind having just had a heart attack.
"I just wanted to stay alive, but that was the only advice I was given."
Mr Amery said he believed rehab could have saved him from future visits to hospital and above all, would have put his mind at ease.
"You need physical, just as much as mental rehab following a heart attack.
"It would have been extremely helpful to have had someone to talk to because you are petrified."
Mr Amery, of Minster Close, Rayleigh, said his heart problems continued following his heart attack and 11 years later he had to have a triple heart bypass.
It was then, he says, he got his first taste of rehab and really appreciated it.
Upon leaving hospital, he spent a day getting advice on changes he needed to make and information such as which car insurers would take him on.
Then, three years ago, he says his "saga continued" as his heart began to race and he was taken to hospital to have an implantable cardioveter defibrillator inserted.
Mr Amery said the device monitors his heart rhythm and adjusts it if it gets too fast by giving him a small shock directly into his heart.
He said just three months ago, the device gave him four shocks in the one night and he was forced to return to hospital where he underwent another operation.
Mr Amery has been recovering since.
This time around, though, he said he was offered much more help which let him come to terms with the device. "You always wonder when it will next go off because you get no warning and it's not pleasant," he said.
"But medical staff have been helping me come to terms with it. I just wish they had been there to help from the start."
Mr Amery described the rehab he had received as a "Godsend."
"When you have a heart attack it's not the end of the world, but it does help to have support."
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