CEEU : Acute Myocardial Infarction :

How the NHS Manages Heart Attacks

April 2004-March 2005

following link is for a pdf download Printable version of full report in PDF format (414k) *

Summary in Welsh

Executive Summary

This is the Fourth Public Report from the Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project (MINAP) on the treatment of heart attack patients. It presents data from all hospitals in England and Wales that admit patients with suspected heart attack from April 2004 to March 2005 (2004/5) in comparison with data from the previous year (2003/4). The report shows continuing improvement in the care of heart attack patients.

High quality care of these patients includes the early diagnosis and rapid treatment to re-open the blocked coronary artery responsible for the heart attack. This is usually by treatment with clot dissolving drugs (thrombolytic treatment) and the prescription of drugs that reduce the risk of further heart attack (secondary prevention therapy).

Patients receive thrombolytic treatment faster

  • 86% of eligible patients in England received thrombolytic treatment within 30 minutes of arrival at hospital compared with 44% during early 2001.
  • 71% of eligible patients in Wales received thrombolytic treatment within 30 minutes of arrival at hospital, compared to 65% in 2003/4 when the Welsh hospitals were first included in the Public Report.
  • 55% of patients received thrombolytic treatment within 60 minutes of calling for professional help in England compared with only 22% in early 2001 (29% in Wales, compared to 22% in 2003/4).
  • The percentage of hospitals in England providing thrombolytic treatment to 75% of their eligible patients within 30 minutes of the patient's arrival at hospital has increased from 80% to 89% since the last report in June 2004. In Wales the percentage has increased from 24% to 56%.

More ambulance personnel can diagnose heart attack and give thrombolytic treatment before the patient arrives at hospital

  • 27 of the 31 ambulance services in England and the Welsh ambulance service can now give thrombolytic treatment to patients before they reach hospital (pre-hospital thrombolysis).
  • In 2004/5, 1,374 patients received pre-hospital thrombolytic treatment compared with 314 patients in 2003/4.

More patients are being treated by primary angioplasty

More hospitals are now using angioplasty as an emergency treatment for heart attack. This is known as primary angioplasty.

  • In 2004/5, 1,087 patients were treated with primary angioplasty in preference to thrombolytic treatment, compared with 390 in 2003/4.

Prescription of secondary prevention medication continues to increase

  • The proportion of heart attack patients prescribed secondary prevention medication on discharge from hospital continues to exceed the targets and has increased to 97% for aspirin, 91% for beta-blockers and 95% for statins in England , with a corresponding increase to 96%, 89% and 92% in Wales.

 

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This page last updated on June 20, 2006