BHF comment
Nearly 300,000 people at risk while waiting for heart disease care in England
The number of people on cardiac waiting lists grew to 291,000 people at the end of December 2021 in England, latest figures reveal.
The data also shows:
• Waiting lists for heart operations and other heart procedures are nearly 100,000 longer than they were a year ago
• 3,907 people were waiting over a year in December 2021 – 140 times higher than before the pandemic began when just 28 people were waiting this long
• Nearly 100 people have been waiting over two years
• 29 per cent of people on waiting lists for potentially lifesaving heart care in England have been waiting over four months (18 weeks)
The latest NHSE figures include emergency, urgent, and elective, or ‘routine,’ heart surgery and other heart procedures, such as stents or balloons to open narrow or blocked arteries
Our response
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, our Associate Medical Director and Consultant Cardiologist, said: “Behind these record numbers are hundreds of thousands of real people at higher risk of avoidable heart attacks, disabling heart failure, or even premature death as they face dangerous delays for potentially live saving heart care."They can’t wait any longer to hear how and when this care will be delivered.
“This week’s plan to tackle the backlog of elective care didn’t tell us what will happen to the vast and ever-increasing number of heart patients waiting for time-critical cardiac care.
"We must urgently see a specific plan for cardiovascular care recovery that commits to addressing the shortage of heart disease doctors, nurses and physiologists.”
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