Heart Valve Voice News
19 October 2020
Across the country, COVID-19 infections continue to rise, and as the infection rates rise, so too do hospital admissions and, sadly, deaths. As we move forward in this second wave of COVID-19 response, we must learn from the first wave. For most people suffering from heart valve disease, the consequences of not being treated far outweigh the risk of contracting COVID-19 whilst in hospital. Therefore, the first lesson we should take from the first wave is to continue to treat heart valve disease patients in a timely and safe way.
16 October 2020
Heart Valve Voice’s Gold Standard sets out specific recommendations for multidisciplinary teams (MDTs). One of the impacts of COVID-19 has been the move from in-person MDT's to a virtual format. These new virtual MDTs are a step in the right direction, as this more agile approach will allow for faster decision making, and with more input from external services.
26 May 2016
New survey data highlights that 94% of the over 60s in the UK do not know what aortic stenosis is, and less than 3% say heart valve disease is the condition that gives them significant concern compared to other illnesses. This is despite annual mortality of untreated and severe aortic stenosis being considerably higher than most cancers* and approximately 1 million people over 65 years of age are thought to suffer from heart valve disease in the UK. Additionally, 72% of over 60s reported that they rarely, or never, have their hearts listened to by a doctor.