The NHS is suffering the ‘worst heart care crisis in living memory’, experts warn as the number of early deaths from heart disease among 75-year-olds reaches the highest level in more than a decade

The NHS is suffering the ‘worst heart care crisis in living memory’, experts warned last night.

Early deaths from heart disease have reached their highest level in more than a decade, figures show.

Rates of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among those under 75 had fallen since the 1960s thanks to plummeting smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthroughs such as stents and statins.

But now obesity, diabetes and undiagnosed high blood pressure are undoing sixty years of progress.

The long wait for tests and treatments is also taking its toll, as are the knock-on effects of the Covid pandemic and recent industrial action by medics.

Data analyzed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shows that progress in the fight against the deadly condition appears to have come to an end.

The latest figures for 2022 show that 80 in 100,000 people in England have died from heart disease – the highest rate since 2011, when there were 83.

The number of cardiac deaths under the age of 75 has risen for three years in a row.

The BHF said it was a ‘marked reversal of the trend for almost 60 years’ and a sign that deaths from heart disease are rising again.

Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate professor at the BHF and consultant cardiologist, said: ‘We are in the grip of the worst cardiac care crisis in living memory.

“Every part of the system that delivers cardiac care is damaged, from prevention, diagnosis, treatment and recovery; to crucial research that could give us faster and better treatments.

‘This is happening at a time when more people are getting sicker and need the NHS more than ever.

“I think it’s tragic that we have lost hard-won progress in reducing premature deaths from cardiovascular disease.”

The BHF said that even before the rise in death rates began in 2019, there had been a ‘significant slowdown’ in the pace of improvement since 2012.

Between 2012 and 2019, the premature death rate from cardiovascular disease in Britain fell by just 11 percent, compared to 33 percent between 2005 and 2012.

In 2022, more than 39,000 people died prematurely from cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks, coronary heart disease and stroke – an average of 750 per week. This is the highest annual total since 2008.

Dr. Babu-Narayan added: ‘The increasing pressures on the NHS in recent years and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic have likely contributed to making things worse, but warning signs were present long before that.

“Since 2010, decades of progress in reducing deaths from heart disease have stalled and the health gap between rich and poor has widened significantly.

‘People living in the most deprived parts of England have become sicker and cases of some cardiovascular diseases have increased.

BHF chief executive Dr Charmaine Griffiths said the figures painted a ‘heartbreaking picture’ (stock image)

‘Millions of people live with undiagnosed risk factors such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and diabetes, and almost two-thirds of adults in England are at a weight classified as overweight or obese. This creates even more problems for the future.’

BHF CEO Dr. Charmaine Griffiths said the figures painted a “heartbreaking picture”.

She added: ‘For more than half a century, groundbreaking research and medical advances have helped us make tremendous progress towards reducing deaths from heart attacks and strokes.

But this has been followed by a lost decade of progress, in which far too many people have lost loved ones too quickly to cardiovascular disease.

‘We can stop this heartbreak, but only if politicians unite to tackle the preventable causes of heart disease; reducing long waiting lists for people needing life-saving heart and stroke care; and help enable scientific breakthroughs to unlock revolutionary new treatments and cures.”

Helen Williams, NHS England’s national adviser for cardiovascular disease prevention, said the NHS has introduced ‘a range of preventative measures to help people take back control of their own health’.

‘Thousands more… are now supported to manage their condition more effectively than before the pandemic, reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke.’

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘This Government has already taken significant action to reduce cardiovascular disease and its causes, including increasing access to testing and successfully encouraging salt reduction – and sugar intake, but we know there is more to do.

‘Our Major Conditions Strategy will help prevent and manage conditions including cardiovascular disease, while our plans to create a smoke-free generation represent the most important public health intervention in a generation.

‘In addition, we are investing almost £17 million in an innovative new digital NHS Health Check, which is expected to deliver a further million health checks in the first four years.’

We didn’t wait for the ambulance – Steve was dying!

Refusing to wait for an ambulance may have saved the life of a 55-year-old man after he suffered a heart attack.

Steve Ware, team manager of a pension company, celebrated his wife Michelle’s birthday on January 9, 2022.

As his wife napped on the sofa at their home in Bristol while recovering from Covid, Mr Ware experienced waves of intense pain in his chest.

He didn’t want to worry Michelle, so an hour passed before she woke up and called 911. Mr Ware, a stepfather of three, said: ‘The ambulance call officer said I was a priority but couldn’t give me a timetable. in case an ambulance arrived.

‘As soon as Michelle answered, I was hit with an excruciating wave of chest pain, so bad I fell to my knees.

Close call: Steve Ware, 55, pictured with his wife Michelle, went into cardiac arrest minutes after arriving at hospital

‘Then Michelle said she didn’t want to risk waiting for an ambulance and would take me to Southmead Hospital Bristol herself.

‘The last thing I remember is struggling to walk to the hospital reception and collapsing in the first chair I saw.’

Mr Ware went into cardiac arrest just minutes after arriving at hospital. A nurse later told him that his heart had stopped for 19 seconds.

He was resuscitated with CPR and defibrillation.

He was taken by ambulance to the Bristol Heart Institute, where he had a stent fitted.

Mrs Ware, 54, said: ‘As it was a Sunday there wasn’t much traffic. Looking back, I dare not imagine what the outcome could have been if it had been a weekday and during rush hour.

‘Steve could have gone into cardiac arrest in the car. Then the story would probably have been very different.’

She added: ‘After Steve had his stent fitted we were given no advice on his recovery and he was not offered cardiac rehabilitation for months. I was shocked at the lack of support.

“This huge thing had happened, Steve almost died and we had to get on with our lives immediately afterwards.”