£100
MILLION FOR MORE HEART OPERATIONS
(6th March 2002)
Health
Secretary Alan Milburn announced today that NHS hospitals across
the country can bid to undertake thousands of additional heart operations
paid for through a new £100m fund. A move that will help thousands
of Asians who suffer from chronic heart disease. The Ethnic
Health Inequalities Survey last year showed that higher rates
of ischaemic heart disease (angina
and heart attack) were reported among South Asian men .
 Mr
Milburn said that the £100m fund will go to NHS hospitals
that can do the extra work. The cash will help the Government deliver
on its commitment to give heart patients who have waited more than
six months for their operation a choice of being treated in their
local hospital, or elsewhere if that is quicker.
From
July this year, these heart patients will be able to choose where
to be treated. The
fund will act as a new incentive for NHS hospitals to increase the
number of heart operations they carry out in return for a direct
payment from the Department of Health for this additional activity.
Waiting
times for heart operations have fallen from a maximum of 18 months
three years ago to a stage where nearly all patients are treated
within 12 months and the average waiting time is about five months.
The ultimate intention of the Patient Choice scheme is that by 2005
all patients will be able to book a convenient time and place for
their treatment at the point they are referred to a hospital by
their GP.
How
will the new scheme work?
The
new programme will be run through a central clearing house - the
National Cardiac Coordination Unit (NCCU) - which will match up
patient demand for heart surgery with spare capacity in the NHS.
Hospitals
from the private sector and overseas will also be used to carry
out the extra work. Bids will be invited from private sector and
overseas health organisations next week to carry out the work.
4000
more Heart Ops next year.
Mr
Milburn said the extra £100m will pay for at least 4,000 additional
heart operations next year. The aim is for the extra operations
to reduce waiting times for a heart procedure to a maximum of nine
months by April 2003.
The
cash will also fund about 40 patient care advisors who will help
patients make an informed choice about where they have their operation
if they have been waiting for more than six months. The advisors,
who will be trained nurses, will ensure patient safety and give
them a greater influence over their own care, making sure that practicalities,
such as travel to the hospital of their choice, are managed smoothly.
The
details of the scheme are revealed in a discussion document entitled
Extending Choice for Patients, Information and Advice on Establishing
the Heart Surgery Scheme published today, which is being sent to
stakeholders including surgeons, trusts and patients' groups for
comment. Copies of the document are available from www.doh.gov.uk/extendingchoice/index.htm.
Mr
Milburn announced the £100m boost during a visit to St George's
Hospital in Tooting, London, today. Announcing £750,000 capital
funding to support the building of a new cardiac operating theatre,
which will allow the hospital to carry out an extra 240 heart operations
a year, he said: "Heart disease is one of the country's biggest
killers. Waiting times are coming down but they are still too long.
Extra investment and reforms to how care is delivered are now needed
to reduce waiting times still further."
Mr
Milburn made the announcement on the second anniversary of the publication
of Government's National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease
- a long term plan to tackle heart disease.
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