This service started in July 2016 and has grown considerably since then.

We deal with most aspects of cardiology that can be dealt with on an outpatient basis and are able to provide a responsive surface to referrals from primary care, allied health services such as Navigo, palliative care nursing, etc. and referrals from secondary care services such as the heart failure and cardiac rehabilitation nurses.

We are staffed with two Consultant Cardiologists, and two Specialist Nurses (one with a particular interest in heart failure, and one with a particular interest in palpitations and arrhythmias), two Advanced Cardiac Physiologists (with a special interest in echocardiography) and one Senior Cardiographer who analyses the ambulatory ECG monitors, and one Health Care Assistant who fits the various ambulatory monitors and runs a phlebotomy clinic.

Whilst we see a wide range of cardiological conditions, a large proportion of the patients seen are referred with known or suspected heart failure. We attempt to see these within the current NICE guidelines, providing prompt clinical evaluation and echocardiography, thereby allowing instigation of treatment known to improve both symptoms and prognosis and to manage these patients with guidance to themselves, carers and relatives, and their primary care physicians to maximise therapeutic outcomes. We perform over 1000 formal echocardiograms per year and many more focussed short studies using portable hand held devices at the bedside.

We have developed and maintained a large database of our heart failure patients which we have used to produce research into referrals and outcomes that have been submitted for presentation at international meetings

Another area of expertise is in the investigation and management of palpitations. We have several different types of heart monitors that we can use to try to evaluate the cause of symptoms, depending on how frequently and for what duration the symptoms last. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a particular concern as it is common within the population as a whole (perhaps 1.4 million people in Britain have AF) and gets more common with older age (perhaps one in five people over the age of 80 years have AF). It is associated with a significantly increased risk of stroke, which can be reduced significantly with effective management.

We perform and analyse approximately 1060 monitors (ECG and BP) per year, and the numbers are growing.

Currently, we receive around 2000 new patient referrals a year to the service, and with review appointments, this runs about 9000 appointments per year.

The service has grown considerably over the past ten years and has the potential to grow further with increased clinical activity occurring in the community settings that had previously been seen within the secondary care domains.

We receive consistently high ratings and praise from service users.

The Community Cardiology Team