Echoes of the future
- About 4,600 children are born with a heart defect every year in the UK.
- The BHF have invested £1.7m in the echo training initiative since 2000.
- Patients attending 17 hospitals have benefited from the scheme to date.
Echoes of the future
The British Heart Foundation is playing a crucial role in the training of dedicated echocardiography technicians across the UK, whose skills will help improve diagnosis, help doctors and surgeons with their procedures, and optimise care by cutting down on unnecessary further investigations, which can be stressful for
the patient.
Action
Echocardiogaphy (echo) is one of the most effective ways to diagnose heart problems. An echo test gives an ultrasound picture that reveals a great deal about a person’s heart. It is most commonly used to diagnose conditions such as heart failure, but because the scan is quick, reliable and painless, echo testing is especially valuable for investigating heart problems in babies and young children.
Lily was only three and a half months old when she underwent a series of operations to try to repair a torn heart valve. Before the third operation a specialised echocardiogram gave the surgeon a 3D picture of the inside of Lily’s heart, which revealed where the leak was and, most importantly, showed that the valve was repairable.
In 2000 the BHF identified a serious shortfall in the number of skilled echo technicians across the UK. Echocardiography requires specialised knowledge, and too few staff were being trained to optimise the use of this key diagnostic equipment.
Working with NHS trusts and the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE), the BHF set up a scheme to train dedicated echocardiographers and provide a better and more widely available service across the UK.
Between 2000 and 2003 the BHF granted awards worth over £1.5 million, funding 33 new echo technician training posts at 25 trusts across the UK. BHF funding meant that NHS trusts could allow these new trainees to focus on echocardiography full-time.
Impact
In 2005 an independent evaluation showed the training scheme was a success. At least 10 additional posts have been created, the overall size of most of the echo departments has grown and an estimated 1,000 more echo heart scans are performed every week across the UK.
A paediatric cardiologist put it this way:
“Trained echocardiographers are as rare as hen’s teeth. We view the contribution of the BHF in this area as absolutely vital.”
Next steps
Five years on, the BHF echo technician training initiative is needed more than ever. Lily’s parents were lucky that a trained echocardiographer was on hand during Lily’s surgery – it helped save her life. But skilled technicians, especially in paediatrics, are still far too thin on the ground.
Also, as a direct result of the creation of new clinics and avenues of patient care, such as direct access and heart failure clinics, which the scheme has supported, demand for echo services is still rising.
In 2006, the BHF will provide a third round of funding for a further 18 trainees in UK hospitals.